Endorsement Time

As I stated in the previous post, I go before the Lakewood Hospitality Association tonight in what I assume will be their way of figuring out who to endorse, if anybody. Not sure if its a paper endorsement or an offer to financially support the candidates. We will just have to see.

Last night I received word that I have been endorsed by the Republican Party of Cuyahoga County, I am thankful of the endorsement and hope that it will open up some financial doors for contributions.

Speaking of contributions, letters have gone out to close family and friends and the envelopes are coming back and I want to say THANK YOU. We are roughly at the half way mark for what we had budgeted for these letters, So again THANK YOU.


OH By The Way -- In the previous post the picture is of LeBron James (he is the one laughing), he is the basketball player who jumped from High School to the Professional ranks back in 2003. He was being sued for $15 Million dollars for breach of an oral contract. After 3 days of testimony and roughly 2 hours of deliberation from the Jury, they found that he didn't breach the contract. SO, it was a good day for the home team. I am working on getting the photograph autographed by him, his mother and his surrogate father (both are sitting next to me in the photo)

Now besides getting ready for the primary, I am also getting ready for another trial here in Cleveland. That is scheduled to go either Sept. 21st, 28th or Oct. 5th (the day after the primary)

Ah such is the life of a Paralegal and Candidate!

Sorry it's been so long

Been a busy couple of weeks. Last week I was working on trial in Akron; If you know basketball, then you might know the gentleman who is laughing!


(Photo Courtesy of Akron Beacon Journal -August 17, 2005)


This week is an endorsement Interview with the Lakewood Hospitality Association, in two weeks I have another interview with the Lakewood Sun Post.

We are having a Blitz weekend mid-September, so if you are available send me a comment and I will call you with the details!

That is all I have time for right now, will fill you in on the trial and the interviews later this week.

THIS & THAT

Tomorrow will be the 50 day mark until the Primary. It is amazing how the time has just flown along.
A lot of little things are starting to roll on, we bought the yardsigns (if you want one go to my website and reserve one), received a letter from the Sun Post about their endorsement interview; received a letter from the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce about their Candidates Forum which will take place after the Primary; Fundraising letters are going out this week. Trying to schedule a blitz weekend for September.
Without being presumptuous we are trying to plan for the run between the primary and the General November 8th.
I have been getting a lot of questions about how I feel towards the election, I feel comfortable on getting through the Primary, its the General that is the bigger mountain to climb. But I am willing to climb it!

No door to door for me this week, I will be working on a trial in the Akron area. Will fill you on that at a later time.

Here is the photo of Tater Tot, she will hang out in my room while I am working here at the computer. This photo was taken as she was peering out from underneath the Love seat, she is recovering from her injuries. The stitches from her hernia operation came out last week and she got her shots and worming medicine, she was pretty groggy all last weekend. The Vet said we can let her run around now, so she does!




Well, I guess I have rambled long enough -- I may post during the trial but don't know for sure!

60 DAYS

Today it is 60 days until the primary and if all goes well in 95 days we have the general election.

Have continued to go door to door, we are approaching the 3000 doors and talking to well over a 1000 people. As you can tell, we are talking to someone about every third house. We are getting to the point were we are finishing a precinct every day and half that we are out. There are 65 precincts between the 4 Wards. We won't be able to get to all 65, because election rules preclude candidates from entering Apartment buildings for canvassing.

Funny thing happened earlier this week, we were out finishing up a precinct and we were half way done with a street and we hadn't talked to anyone, didn't think much of it since it was dinner time and a lot of people don't answer the door. But we found out the street was without power, so no doorbells were working, OH WELL! Guess I'll have to the use the old fashioned way -- will need lots of ice for the knuckles!!

Tomorrow there is an Art Festival so we will be donning TIM CARROLL shirts and strolling Detroit Rd to get some name recognition and visibility.

Next major hurdle fundraising, we need to buy the yard signs and have the mailers made up for September.

One final thought, say a prayer for the men and women who wear a uniform in the US Armed Forces. Especially for those Marine families who have lost love ones right here in Metro Cleveland Area this past week.

A New Member of the Carroll for Council Team

I bring you Tater Tot

She is about 6 weeks old, she already is a fighter. She was found in the woods in North Canton with a broken hip and pelvis. The vet also found that she had a hernia and some bugs had latched on to her fur around her neck.
Rita brought her home last night, she was a little skittish around the house but hopefully she will adapt to her new surroundings.

Due to her injuries she won't be on the trail with me for quite some time. The Doctor said no steps for at least a month.

The name comes from the Vet's office, since she was so small when she was brought in 10 days ago.

We're Filed

Yesterday was the filing deadline for the petitions to get on the ballot. A major hurdle has been cleared! Now we can concentrate on the campaign and also fundraising. Last night went to a meeting of the Berea Republican Club, they had Ken Blackwell speak, it was essentially the same talk he gave when he was here in Lakewood, but when it came to the Q & A he stated some new ideas in which to combat the school funding and repealing the new corporate tax that the Ohio Legislature has passed.

I received an email from the Coleman for Governor campaign, he is a Democratic Candidate for Governor touting his ideas and platform, but what kind of bothered me is the way he was asking for contributions. In the information it stated how you would get a tax break.

From his website:
"Ohio law allows for a tax credit of $50 per individual or $100 per joint filers for those who make contributions to state office candidates. Because Mike Coleman is running for governor in 2006, you can get up to $50 off your state taxes in 2005 and in 2006 when you make donations to Coleman for Ohio. This is a tax credit. Meaning if you owe $400 in state taxes, and you make a $50 donation and take the credit, you then owe only $350. If you owe state taxes, the donation will not increase the amount of taxes you owe the state."

This just seems to be an odd way to ask for contributions.

Back to my campaign, we have double shifts scheduled this weekend to canvass. I am beginning to plan for the month of August, I am going to try an schedule 3 nights a week and continue with the double shifts on the weekends. There are a couple of special events in the City that will require me to make an appearance, so we will adjust the schedule accordingly.

Have a great Friday!

Around the City in 80 Days

Well today there are 80 days until the primary.

Canvassing was very hot today, as it has been every time I have been out since June.

For humor sake we were caught in mid-afternoon storm which made us look like a couple of drowned rats! We stopped there and went back and dried off and changed clothes and went back out for another 2 1/2 hours of canvassing.

All those who want to lose weight, forget the Atkins or any other of the diets out there, just run for office and go door to door, you will take the weight off and tone the muscles, I am speaking from experience on this one.

Each precinct is roughly 300 houses and we tend to hit about 85-90% of them. The reasons for not hitting them all is mainly 1)they may not be registered voters or 2) as was the case this afternoon and evening several of the places were empty. Today we finished one complete precinct and began another before the Candidate wore out!

Filing deadline is coming, we fell short on the Pre-Check with the Board of Election. We had over the required amount, but apparently they found fault with a few more than we anticipated, so now we have to go back and pick up a few more before the end of the week.

Finally, I would like to thank DaGoddess for the kind words of encouragement on the campaign. Turns out she is a product of a former Lakewood resident! You can see her at her site www.dagoddess.com. I have added her to the list off to the right.
Good Luck with the surgery DG!

I have decided that every week I would try and write a little background on each of the blogs off to right, so that when you click on one you will have a little better understanding of the site. Of course if you know of a site that interests you, pass it along in the comments.

500

With 82 days to go until the Primary, we have made contact at more than 500 houses, which equates to about 1000-1200 doors that have been knocked on. I hope to triple that number by the end of August and then make a big push in September.

Today is Pre-Check day, we can take our petitions to the County Board of Elections for a review of the signatures of the petition. We believe to have enough, but will getting more just to have a cushion. If we have enough, we will go ahead and file them.

Once we are filed we can concentrate on going door to door and fundraising!

On another topic -- Off to the right you will see my Blogroll, these are links to Blogs that I read on a daily basis. These sites talk about Politics, the War on Terror, life as a soldier in Iraq, Afghanistan or here at home and there are a couple of them that write on everyday life.

One of the sites is SMASH's site , he is a Naval Reserve officer who was stationed in the Gulf during the initial phase of the War in Iraq. I began reading his site in January 2003, he is a good read and will lead you to other sites.

After you finish reading his blog check out his list under MILBLOGS, you will find some great men or women who wear the Uniform of the United States Armed Forces!

He directly or indirectly has directed me to every site that is on the list.

Please check them out, by hitting their links.

Thanks to all the men and women who have served to protect and defend the United States of America!

I am so excited

The website is up and working -- the link is off to the right

Had a long day today -- again -- door to door

Got into the First Ward which is the ward I live in -a lot of good folks live there and want to see Lakewood move forward.

I never really thought I would like going door to door as a candidate, but it works -- I get a lot of responses from folks who like that a candidate who would actually come to their door to ask for their vote.

Was on Niagara Drive in the first ward -- to me that is or should be a very big street for me since I was born in Niagara Falls and went to college at Niagara University, but a sitting Councilman lives on that street and it may make it tough to turn those residents to a new person.

Found out a like minded citizen has stepped forward to take on the WARD 1 seat, I will try and help him as much as I can, but it is a little late in the game to spreading myself to thin.

I have 87 days until the primary.

Say a Prayer for People of London

There is nothing that I can say that has not already been said about the terrorist attacks in London.

The terrorists believe that the Western World will submit to their way of thinking, but I don't think that is going to happen as we are a free thinking society and will not subjugate ourselves to be the in the same mind as those thugs.


(H/T shop-british .UK)

May God Bless the United Kingdom in their hour of need