My campaign is sinking to new lows. I�m serving at the PTO Spaghetti Dinner tonight. If that�s not out-of-character enough for you, try the next part. I baked for the PTO bake sale (with Day-Hay�s help.) This from the woman who when she was really, really active in the PTO told them that they should stop looking to her to do things she wasn�t good at (such as bake) and start looking to her to do things she was good at (such as updating and re-writing the by-laws.) No doubt about it, I�ve become a politician. Next thing you know I�ll be kissing babies despite the fact that I much prefer older children.

If it weren�t for having finally set up dentist appointments for the kids, I could have set up the book fair instead. I�ve done that before and I�m reasonably good at it. Day-Hay is wonderful at doing displays. She usually comes with me so I figure that at least some good work is getting done. But book fair set-up was during an appointment so I not only have to show up at the big, fund-raising spaghetti dinner but I also have to serve at it. What a wonderful opportunity�especially the part where I pay for spaghetti for two children who won�t touch the stuff.

The candidates� forum was last Monday night. The questions were good. I�m sure my answers impressed all twelve people who were there. The big question is how the reporter will cover the answers. I�ll have that information tomorrow night when the local weekly paper comes out. I wonder what awful picture of me will accompany it. A photographer was at the forum and every time his camera flashed, I was in the middle of making a point. I�m not at my photographic best when animated.

At least I wasn�t really the politician at the forum. I didn�t pull my punches at all. I explained how and why we were slicing and dicing the budget and why I didn�t expect the fiscal picture to change substantially in the near future. I explained how the budget situation related to the lack of a teachers� contract. I explained that I believed in listening to the community but noted that when it came to the hardest questions, the community rarely spoke with one voice and that sometimes it was necessary to choose between voices.

I still need to call people to see who will take yard signs. I began making the calls but it became a little less urgent when it became obvious that it made sense to wait for next weekend when the temperature (including ground temperature) was higher and some of the snow was gone. When it comes to those signs, I really appreciate having a last name that is short. Thank you, Mr. Philately. That name makes for very big letters on a campaign sign.

The brochures are at the printers and will be back at the end of the week. The election is not until April 2nd so I won�t get those distributed until the end of March. I�m taking some time off work then so I can wander up and down streets distributing the things. For once I�m glad that this suburb likes to pretend it is rural. I won�t have to go up to each house. Instead, I�ll stuff the literature into the newspaper delivery boxes.

I�d saw I was a reluctant candidate but it�s not true. I�m just a whiny campaigner. As I told the crowd of twelve on Monday, I hate selling and I particularly hate selling myself. So, after this experience, I don�t think I�ll be running for higher office anytime soon.

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