It�s time to learn a new skill: campaigning. The first time I ran for school board, I was unopposed. This time there are three candidates for two seats. I need to learn how to promote myself. I need to learn to campaign.

Last week, someone I know locally who is very savvy about such things is sat me down and taught me what she thinks I need to know. Now I have the knowledge base. The skill base is harder to acquire. It�s all in the doing�and the doing plays to my mild phone phobia and my hesitation to ask, �Do you like me? Do you really like me? Do you like me enough to help?�

The candidates� forum held by the PTO is doable. Yard signs and campaign literature are easy. They require some design ability and money. This election is still a low-budget election. This year school board will be a more expensive hobby than usual but it will be affordable. The real difficulties lie elsewhere.

Why do I have the feeling that real campaigning may be a life-altering experience. I�ve never been particularly good at promoting myself. I can talk about the issues. I can advocate for openness�even while recognizing the limits of openness as I never did before I became a politician. How do you explain that, in the abstract, a particular budget cut makes sense but from a staffing standpoint it would be a disaster? You can�t without undercutting your teachers.

Some days, I�m not even sure why I want the job. How on earth will I explain to others why they should give it to me? I know why they should give it to me. The best reason is exactly the reason that makes the job so painful. I will listen and then I won�t turn away from hard decisions because they are unpopular or uncomfortable. I will seek out information and I will think about what is said. I will evaluate whether it makes sense in terms of other information I have and then I will make a decision. The decision, like many decisions, may not be the best decision (although in general I believe my judgment is relatively sound.) It may not be the only possible decision.

But it will be the fairest decision that I know how to make. It will not weigh my own child�s needs more. I am Day-Hay�s mother but, as a school board member, I am a steward for all of the children. It will not weigh particular parties� needs more just because of who they are (although, if I�m honest, I am more influenced by some opinions than other based upon my view of the people who hold the opinions.) It will be what I believe to be the best solution possible. I�m nothing if not pragmatic.

So, I might as well practice here. Do I have your support? Will you take a yard sign if I need it? Will you distribute literature? And, most of all, unlike most of the people I talk to, will you take the time to vote?

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