Good Day

The trial I have been working on for the past three weeks, the Jury came back late this afternoon with a verdict for our client. So now I can concentrate the next week on getting elected!

Here is a photo from the Candidates' Forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce

(Lakewood Observer)

Here is another one from the League of Women Voters Forum

(Lakewood Observer)

I must say I look pretty good sitting in the Council Chairs

I'M BACK

I have been busy with work that last few weeks. So there has been little time to write in this blog. I have been continuing to go out on the stump during the weekends trying to drum up support for votes on November 8th.

There were two Candidates Forums in as many weeks. One was held by the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce and the other was by the League of Women Voters.

I felt that I held my own on the Q & A, in fact I believe that I distinguished myself between the candidates who finished just ahead of me, so I feel right now that I have a decent shot at finishing third. I just have to make sure the people get out to vote to support my candidacy.

While I was tied up during the week with work, Rita was out knocking on doors drumming up votes and handling some of the scheduling and organizing of volunteers and mailers.

With out a doubt she has been the greatest gift in my life!

GOOD NEWS

Received word that I was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #25. They endorsed the two incumbents and me.

That is a nice thing to add to the literature!

The Day After

I have had various emotions today regarding the results, but I keep coming back to the feeling that I have a job to do and the work is not quite finished. So I am heading back out on the stump knocking on doors, raising issues and money, so that the task at hand can be completed to my satisfaction. That will come on November 8th with winning a seat on Council.

So I am rolling up the sleeves and getting back to work!

34 Days!

Final Tally

LAKEWOOD CITY - MEMBER OF COUNCIL-AT-LARGE
Vote for 3
(With 69 of 69 precincts counted)
NICKIE J. ANTONIO 1415 17.27%
DANIEL THOMAS BRENNAN 1237 15.10%
TIMOTHY CARROLL 1103 13.46%
MICHAEL DEVER 1616 19.72%
EDWARD FITZGERALD 1711 20.88%
SUZANNE KENNEDY HORRIGAN 575 7.02%
DANIEL E. SHIELDS 421 5.14%
RANDY WOLTERS 115 1.40%

The end result is that I am on to the General Election, we have a bit of hill to climb but tomorrow is another day!

Thanks to all the Friends and Family for their help and support!!!

November 8th here we come!

RESULTS

Here is the ABSENTEE

(TIM's NOTE) REMEMBER TOP 6 MOVE ON

LAKEWOOD CITY - MEMBER OF COUNCIL-AT-LARGE
Vote for 3

(With 4 of 69 precincts counted)
NICKIE J. ANTONIO 72
DANIEL THOMAS BRENNAN 81
TIMOTHY CARROLL 117
MICHAEL DEVER 156
EDWARD FITZGERALD 192
SUZANNE KENNEDY HORRIGAN 59
DANIEL E. SHIELDS 22
RANDY WOLTERS 8

PRIMARY DAY

The polls open in a little more than 2 hours, all the calls have been made, doors have been knocked, volunteers have their assignments -- all that is left to do is vote.
I am feeling good and hopeful that we will have a strong showing.

Today, I will be manning various polling locations to remind voters and see what the other candidates will be doing. I will also be in the office preparing for a trial.

In about 18 hours we will know what the direction for November will be!

All I can do now is sit back and wait.

Thanks to all who have helped along the way!

UPDATE: 10:30 A.M.

beautiful morning weather is perfect, but so far we are seeing a low turnout, I was number 22 in my precinct, which is low for after 9 a.m.

Ran into the Mayor, he was expecting 3-5000 voters today. The City's population is 56,ooo+; Registered voters is roughly half that number.

Have seen three of my competitors either driving by or at a polling location.

More to follow.

I guess I was wrong

This morning the Plain Dealer didn't come out with the voter guide as I thought. Today we will be doing some last minute things to prepare for Tuesday and beyond!

I am still amazed that after over a 100 days of campaigning and going door to door people are still surprised to have a candidate or incumbent walking up and knocking on the door.

In 48 hours, we will know where I stand amongst the field of 8. Well, really seven since one of the candidate has decided to drop out. But, he will still be on the ballot and will get votes.

Intensity Builds

Well here we are the Saturday before the Primary. The voters of Lakewood are being bombarded with mailings from the at large Candidates (those with money to do it) and the Ward 1 race. Some candidates are still going door to door trying to catch some last minute votes.

Tomorrow, the Cleveland Plain Dealer comes out with their voter guide, not sure how much that will help the voters, but I understand that the paper is trying to cover all the municipal races and not have to come up with a myriad of questions specific for each municipality.

Tomorrow and Monday I will make my closing arguments to the people of Lakewood and beginning Tuesday morning at 6:30 am the ballots will count.

I and my team will be out there for the rest of the weekend making calls, stopping at doors, dropping of literature and standing at the polls.

As Kenny Loggins would say -- "This is it"

I am ready -- I am feeling Happy, I am feeling Healthy -- I am feeling terrific!!!!

We are having a party Tuesday night at a local bar, which I believe has wireless access so I will try and blog the Results Party.

Endorsements

This morning I woke up the Lakewood Sun Post on the doorstep and an endorsement on the inside!
The paper did a write up on each of the candidates with a snippet of everyone's platform.

Mine they used the incentives idea for absentee landlords to rehabilitate their properties with the potential to sell them to the tenants. My belief on that is if we can take out some of the problem rental properties, we create pride of homeownership, some additional tax dollars and take away some of the supply of rentals and stem the upward swing of Section 8 housing that the City has seen over the last 4-5 years. The other benefit that I see is that the other landlords will have the ability to charge a little bit more and get the quality tenants that will stay in their properties.

This is a biggie for me, as this vaults me up into the name recognition list for next Tuesday and for the November election as well. Since the Sun Post endorsed 5 others it puts me on a level playing field, something which I have worked hard to obtain.

Add this endorsement to the one I received earlier in the week from the Lakewood Republican Organization, of which I am truly grateful to the members who have supported me from day one! Also, it goes with the endorsement from the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, that I received back in August.

5 DAYS TO GO!