Will Raymond for Council in 2005

I will be posting a much more extensive thank you’s, some ruminations on the outcome and various other miscellany fairly soon. For now, I’m busy fighting one heck of a cold from Tuesday, catching up on some work and pulling together some loose ends from my run.

Speaking of loose ends, I’m looking for some very modest contributions to retire my debt of $1,500. You can still donate to my campaign for the next few months.

So, change is on the way, please stay tuned.

By 7:21AM, my signs were out of almost every precinct (Frank Porter Graham/Scroggs were the last two I got after dropping E. at school) and off most of the roads. By 9:30AM, every sign I knew about (and I kept a log!) was safely retrieved.

If you have a sign or see a sign waving around out there, please send me an email or give me a call 932-1380 – I’d like to hang on to them.

Oh, why the quick pickup?

I said early on in my campaign, win or lose, my signs would not linger throughout our Town.

If there’s one discriminator the electorate takes away from this election, I hope they recall that I said it, then I did it.

Truck-o-Signs

Last Sign?

At this point, with 38 precincts reporting, it appears I’m headed for a solid 5th place. If the trend of a vote for Thorpe is a vote for Harrison continues, I imagine that by the end count I’ll still be out of the running. Of course, it isn’t over until it’s over – 45 of 45 reporting.

Win or lose, the campaign has been great. I’ve had an opportunity to express some ideas and viewpoints not generally found in our races. I’ve also had an opportunity to see some interesting character emerge in our candidate field.

I also made the unprecedented move of releasing all my financial and contributor information prior to the election. I hope this is something the current candidates will do ASAP and that the next slate of candidates will do as a matter of course.

To the 2005 SPCH endorsement class; Laurin and Mark, great top of the ticket. Jason, good experience for your next run. And thanks for all the Pit sits.

I’m sure there will some great post-analysis: Was turnout a factor? Did more money equal more votes? What was the role of all the signage?

That will all be interesting but in the end the Town will have spoken.

Thank you to all my supporters, the folk that voted for me and all the folk that turned out to vote on one of the loveliest election days I’ve ever experienced.

Finally, thanks to my great family – E. and Ellie. Without your support I would’ve never gotten as far as I have….

Goodnight folks, it has been a long day.

Looks like I’ll be finishing the day between the Library, Binkley and possibly Southern Village. It’s been an absolutely fabulous day meeting the electorate. I’m as relaxed as when I started 4:00am but a slight bit more tired.

Thank you all the voters that have turned out. If you’re reading this prior to 7:30pm and you haven’t voted, why don’t you join the ranks of those who have?

I’ll probably post one more time before midnight…

Except for a few quick turns at Binkley, Community Park and Ephesus, I’ve camped out for the last 4 hours at the Library on an incredibly beautiful day. Reports are that turnout is fairly pitiful Town-wide. Comparing my numbers from last election to the numbers I’ve had reported from 8 different precincts, it appears we’re lagging about %20 behind where we were in 2003.

On the good side, I’m getting quite positive feedback and my position on the slate seems quite firm. Of course, time will tell.

Jeff Danner, Robin Cutson, Mark Kleinschmidt and my family are at the Library.

Ellie, E. and I voted at 11am. We’re in the early 200’s.

Just back from 2.5 hours at Colonial Heights. Fairly steady but slowing traffic. I’ll be at the Library from 10:30 until 11:30, Binkley and the Community Park during lunch and back to Colonial Heights by late afternoon.

Turnout is fairly good so far – and the day is getting much nicer.

I’m giving balloons out to the kids – young and old – come on by and get one while you’re out!

The balloon is going up! Headed out from campaign headquarters to take a quick tour of the key precincts in town. Putting a few last flourishes on and checking for sign “corruption”.

Final prep for Election Day. Have a little surprise cooked up but it’s “time limited” – essentially means I had to wait until the last minute to add it into the campaign mix.

I’ll be attempting to add photos and commentary throughout the day (if I can find a Wifi hotspot). I know some of you use Flickr for online photos. Why don’t we use the tag OrangeCountyElections2005 to track the day?

See you at the polls.

In Chapel Hill’s case, it wasn’t the case that not a creature was stirring. Earlier, I was distributing the last bits of my printed materials to both volunteers and potential voters. This evening, Mark K. and I put up our last few precinct signs.

And we were not alone. Other electioneering folk were scampering to-and-fro getting ready for the big day.

But it won’t be a big day if you don’t get out and

VOTE!

The weather is supposed to be stunning. My family will be up early to greet you either at Seawell School or the Library. My volunteers will be handing out literature at a variety of polls. It would be a shame after all the preparations if you don’t “show up”.

I hope you do and blow away all the predictions of a smidgen of a turnout.

ps. I’ll be trying to “live ‘blog” the day if I can find any Wifi hotspots

During this campaign, I’ve talked about providing quarterly reports on the fiscal activities of our Town.

• How much have we spent to-date?
• What are our bond balances?
• What are our remaining anticipated liabilities?
• Are we on-track?
• Will there be any monies left at the end of the year?

Along with our quarterly report, we would issue a simplified “economic report card”, so the citizenry – at a glance – can tell if the Council is doing a good job helping our community “live within our means”.

If there is one operational innovation I can bring to Townhall my first year on Council, it would be this new budget transparency. With these tools, we all can keep an eye on our budget, suggest efficiencies and strive to make the best possible use of our hard-earned tax dollars.

We owe our citizenry that basic courtesy.

Here’s a simplified “report card” of my campaign finances to-date.

Revenue: $3,135

• raised $1,535 from individual contributors
  • no contribution over $100
  • average around $45
  • median around $42
• $1,600 in loans made by the candidate to his campaign
  • $250 (8/16) – seedcorn
  • $900 (9/28) – signs
  • $450 (11/01) – mailing

Liabilities: $1,600

• loans of $1,600 owed to citizen Will Raymond by candidate Will Raymond

Expenditures: $3129.20

• $1,121.52 on final two mailings of postcards (post BOE PreElection report)
• $1,140.70 on balloons and signs
• $129.50 on postage
• $100.00 in-kind website development by Will
• $5.00 on filing fee
• $357.27 on copies, paper, envelopes, mailing stickers, helium, office supplies
• $44.92 Final Flyer for Canvassing & Election Day (post BOE PreElection report)
• $18.20 Last minute printing. (post BOE PreElection report)
• $180.oo WCHL Radio Spots on Monday Nov. 7th(post BOE PreElection report)
• $32.09 Mystery expenditure #2 (post BOE PreElection report)

Anticipated Balance as of Nov. 9th: $5.80

A detailed breakdown of all my contributions is available here.

And if you would like to throw all my carefully calculated results off, please

UPDATE: A. Badrock has thrown my contribution numbers out-of-whack with her 12:22pm Nov.4th $25 donation. Thank you Ms. Badrock!

UPDATE: Added detailed loan information.

UPDATE: J. Gurlitz’s $50 Nov. 6th donation added, expenditures and revenue recalculated.

UPDATE: Reposted to the front page for visibility.

Thank you to all my campaign supporters and contributors.

We’re very close to the end but I need a bit more help on Tuesday, Nov. 8th at the polls. If you have the time, I have the need. Please call me at 932-1380 or drop me an email at campaign@willraymond.org.

Thank you Joyce Brown, Cam Hill, Janet Kagan, Gregg Gerdau for lending your names and kind words to my campaign.

To all those displaying (and managing) my signs, thank you. My signs are part of my message and a form of political speech – I appreciate the help you’ve leant in keeping them “evergreen”.

To the “word of mouth” crew, the email listers and all the folk getting the message out – incredible! Our “viral marketing” campaign seems to be working – don’t stop now!

Finally, for now at least, thank you to all the folk that pitched in to fund my campaign. With the earthquake, Katrina and so many other pressing needs in the world, I’m humbled that you dug deep and supported my candidacy. Thank you!

Here’s a tally to-date (prior to Nov. 4th) of my contributions, the contributor’s name (with a possible link to an affiliated website), the election report (10 Day, 35 Day, PreElection) and a quick, far from exhaustive, comment about my fine contributor. Contributions beyond the PreElection report are noted as “Past Last Report”.

If you want to be added to the list, please