Going forward,
winding down
Topics:
- Winding Down
- FEC report and Campaign Debt
- Getting out those thank-you notes
- Disconnecting phones
- Web page, emails, etc.
- Address to State Committee
- Are you on Tom Allen's email list?
- On the Personal Front
1. Winding Down
- FEC report and Campaign Debt
We're almost done with all the essential data-entry that needs
to happen before that critical post-election Federal Elections
Commission report, due December 7, can be filed. With adjustments
for any post-campaign contributions made to help pay down the
campaign debt (hint, hint), and any last-minute expenses (like
more postage stamps for those thank-you notes), that report
will look something like this:
- about $120,400 in total revenue over the entire campaign,
- about $1,100 cash on hand,
- just over $19,400 in campaign debt.
That last part breaks down to:
- $3,315 still on the campaign credit card, mainly for
some last-minute TV ad time, as well as routine campaign
office expenses like copy paper, stationery, envelopes,
toner, etc. That bill is due Dec. 22.
- $2,950 in unpaid travel vouchers for Jean and David for
October and November.
- $13,150 in loans from Jean to cover unpaid travel vouchers
during the 17 months Jean was on the campaign trail pre-primary.
- Getting out those thank-you notes
Now that the dust has almost settled around here, we're in the
process of getting out all those thank-you notes, hundreds of
them, for the help that came in the last few weeks and months
of the campaign. Thank you again, all of you, for your support
during the entire campaign, and especially in that last push,
when it looked like the entire nation had come around to adopting
my campaign platform of ending the war, getting national health
care, moving to energy self-sufficiency, and rescuing our Constitution.
- Disconnecting phones
As you might expect, we'll be discontinuing all those VOIP phone
numbers we've been using to make it convenient for all of you
all over the state and in Washington, DC, to reach our office
without a toll call. That will happen during the first week
of December, which is coming right up. We'll be keeping the
campaign phone number (207-234-4224) for the time being, if
you need to reach us. It's a ring-mate number on our home phone
number. And speaking of phones, David's cell phone number will
be changing soon, we don't have a new number yet. Call the house
(207-234-4226) if you need to reach him.
- Web page, emails, etc.
We'll be keeping the web page up for the time being, until we
decide what it might/could morph into.
Thanks again to our two wonderful volunteer webmasters, Alisha
Langerman, who carried the ball for most of the campaign, and
Dan Ellis, who stepped in this fall to help out Alisha when
her college studies took precedent (as well they should).
Meanwhile, we're still adding to it.
Check out the Supporters
page for several new additions.
Check out the Blog for recent post-election
postings of supporters' emails (and thank you for those wonderful
emails).
Speaking of emails, we've been having trouble lately sending
to Yahoo.com email addresses, sometimes just in bulk, other
times even single emails. We hear other political sites have
had this problem, too. So if you have some political cronies
with yahoo.com accounts, feel free to forward this missive.
In the "etc." department, if you still see a lawn sign of ours
up on a public right of way, please do us a favor and stop and
take it away. Unless they're in someone's front yard, they're
supposed to be gone a week after the election. Thanks.
Also in the "etc." department, you might like to read what I told
the Maine Democratic Party State Committee at its meeting
on Nov. 19 (more below).
2. Address to State Committee
I gave a blunt post-election analysis to the MDP State Committee
at its meeting Nov. 19 -- what worked (Coordinated Campaign, grassroots
activists and organizing, etc.), and what didn't (help from national
organizations, confusion about my access to Maine's Clean Election
funds, etc.). Total report is posted on the web page. Here are
some excerpts:
...Support from the grassroots for my campaign was tremendous.
That's what kept me going. So many people, who shared our vision
for where we needed to go in this country....Support from the
Maine Democratic Party was helpful. Howard Dean's Coordinated
Campaign structure worked better than I've ever seen a coordinated
campaign work.
...Many people were reasonably assuming that the Democratic Senate
Campaign Committee and EMILY’s List were providing money and support,
because that is their supposed reason for existing. Both organizations
adamantly refused to help. . .
...Compounding the problem for me was Maine's Clean Election Fund.
....People perceived that I was getting Clean Election money,
or that I had the opportunity to get Clean Election money but
chose not to take it.... People asked me in emails why they were
not seeing ads for me, when they were seeing two other women running
for statewide office [Pat LaMarche and Barbara Merrill] with ads
all over the television, for months.... Maine's Clean Election
Fund is only available to candidates running for Governor and
State House and State Senate seats in the Maine Legislature. It
does not extend to federal candidates, for the U. S. House of
Representatives or U. S. Senate.
3. Are you on Tom Allen's email list?
First District Congressman Tom Allen called the other day, and
in the course of the conversation wondered how many of my supporters
were already on his email list, and, conversely, how many were
not but might want to be. (Did I mention Maine's other U.S. Senate
seat, now held by Susan Collins, will be on the ballot in two
years? Could that be why Tom Allen is interested in our statewide
list? Stay tuned.)
Rather than compare email lists directly, we decided to let you
be the filter. Please click the appropriate link below, to send
us an email and let us know where you stand.
Yes, please forward my name and email address to Tom Allen. I'd
like to keep up with what he's doing.
Thanks, I'll sign up myself at TomAllen.org
Thanks, but I'm already on Tom Allen's email list
4. On the Personal Front
Now that the campaign is behind us, David and I are in the position
of deciding what to do with the rest of our lives. We're in our
late 50's, too young to retire, and can't afford to anyway until
Social Security kicks in. We are weighing all our options, and
in a lot of ways, we are looking forward to that adventure.
My focus right now is on getting the farm back up and running,
from its nearly two-year hiatus while I was out campaigning. I've
spent a lot of time on the tractor recently, on every dry day,
mowing those fields that should have been mowed in August. We've
been pouring over the seed catalogs, I've signed on to one small
summertime farmers market so far, and David is nearly done putting
the hoophouse frame on the tank foundation that we had poured
last year to hold the two 5,000-gallon irrigation tanks. These
unseasonably warm days (global warming, anyone?) have been helpful
in that regard.
As you may know, David was very supportive of my attempt to change
the world through electoral politics, by providing not only the
personal and political encouragement I needed to take on such
a daunting, all-consuming task, but also by providing the financial
support from his full-time job for our day-to-day living expenses.
That full-time job ended last Spring, when David's company downsized
and he was laid off. At that time we had a decision to make. Would
David look for another full-time job, or would he become my full-time
unpaid campaign manager? He REALLY wanted to be the full-time
campaign manager. So, we made the decision to eat into our limited
retirement savings for personal expenses for the rest of the campaign.
If I won the election, I would be the breadwinner with my Senate
salary and David would be the farmer. If I lost the election,
I would again be the farmer, and David would go job-hunting.
That's where we are now. He's checking out some job prospects
right now, and we'll see what the future brings.
Thank you all again, for all the support and enthusiasm you all
put into this campaign. Knowing you were there, and that you're
still out there, by the thousands, knowing that we still share
a vision for what American is, what it needs to be and become,
is what keeps me from being discouraged -- at least for the moment
-- about the fate of the world, the nation, and the state of Maine.
Best wishes for a wonderful Holiday Season, and let's hope and
pray for real Peace on Earth in the New Year.
Keep in touch.
Love to you all,
Jean
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