Campaign nerves.

I'm really worried about getting enough signatures to get on the ballot.

The machine really makes the number high and onerous, to benefit incumbents and keep challengers out, and I'm just not made to collect a lot of signatures.

For one, I work weird evening hours, so I can only go out 2 days a week during the prime 5-7:30pm weekday slot, when most people are home and you can really bang out signatures.

Plus, because I have limited social networks in the neighborhood and I'm not an organization candidate, it's hard to round up people that way, though I do have some people who I got clipboards to who are going to go out for me and get signatures.

Plus plus, I don't have a spouse or relative who can act as a campaign manager, which would make rounding up volunteers easy, and I don't have the money to get one, though hopefully I will for the last few months of the campaign, which is when most people get one anyhow.

So, I'm trying to recruit new volunteers and lean on the ones that I have, and I myself am trying to go out for an hour or so before I head to work every day that I work, in addition to really going out on my days off.

One of the challengers last time said she got 2,000 signatures by going out like 4 days a week after work (only 1 day with someone else), and then by going out for shifts on her days off for a few hours, once with maybe 1-2 other people, and by getting clipboards to like 20 people.

She said to expect 10-20 signatures an hour, though I haven't quite gotten that so far, though it was just a long holiday weekend, so maybe that explains it, since it seems like a disproportionate amount of people haven't been home.

My lawyer said to get 1500 signatures to be safe for valid signatures and the one last challenger got way more than that with not that that much effort, so hopefully I'll be able to pull that off... 

In any case, I'm taking an extra day off work all this month, so I can be out gathering signatures, and I've gotten clipboards to like 5 people and am getting them to like 5 more.

Gosh darn it, it would be so much easier, if I could even just meet my supporters to hand off clipboards on weekday evenings, like people who have normal work schedules can.

It really does make you realize, how you have to be rich to run for office, or have a lot of people behind you for initial lift-off, though I'm a good one-on-one candidate and good for going head-to-head against the incumbent in the general.

The people will be there once I qualify for the ballot, but it's just a matter of getting there now!