|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Campaigns heating up
by Johnny Whitfield, Wake Weekly Associate Editor
With less than six weeks before voters go to the polls to elect two Wake Forest commissioners, the five people vying for those seats are beginning to ramp up their campaigns. Rob Bridges, Frank Drake, Chris Kaeberlein, Chris Malone and Margaret Jones Stinnett hope to win the seats currently held by Bridges and Malone.
To this point, candidates have been busy raising money and meeting voters. Signs are beginning to appear along roadsides and the Internet is even playing a role. So far, money hasn't made a big impact, but three of the candidates -- Bridges, Malone and Drake -- have let the Wake County Board of Elections know they intend to raise or spend at least $3,000 in their bid for office. Drake hosted a fundraiser Sunday, drawing a crowd that included members of the local development community and several of Drake's colleagues on the Wake Forest Planning Board, among many others. Bridges and Malone both have plans to host their own fundraisers the first week of October and Jones has been raising money in less formal settings. For Kaeberlein, meeting voters has been a top priority. Gladhanding All five candidates agree that meeting voters is key to winning the election. For Kaeberlein, the experience has been enlightening. "Some of the issues I thought would be important haven't been," Kaeberlein said. Many of the voters he has met raised concerns about the aggressiveness of the development community and the town board's ability to hold developers to existing rules. "I've gotten some surprising reactions," Kaeberlein said. Drake has also hit the pavement. Picking the right time to call on voters and balancing that work with his paying job has been a challenge for Drake. "I've learned from a couple of people who have run for office that they won because they knocked on people's doors and asked them to vote for them. It's the one thing I can do that no one who wants to help me can do," Drake said. Stinnett has turned to friends to introduce her to voters in neighborhoods throughout town. "I've tried to develop a contact in as many neighborhoods as I could so there will be someone who can introduce me to people and help me get the word out," Stinnett says. Bridges and Malone agree that they can't rest on their incumbency to fuel voter support. "The most effective way to do that is to get to the most populated areas. If I can go to a neighborhood that has 20 residents or one that has 100, I'm better off spending my time with 100 people," Bridges said. Malone agreed. "You have to have a good ground game. It's important that I talk to people about my campaign," Malone said. But talking is only part of the game. In today's age, the Internet has become a player even in local elections. Techno-campaigning Kaeberlein has developed his own website (www.kaeberlein.com) which highlights his platform in a variety of areas and offers supporters a way to get involved in the campaign. Kaeberlein also has a weblog, or blog on the site that reports on the daily activities of his campaign. Malone and Bridges have teamed up to develop a website of their own (www.commissionerscorner.com) that offers visitors many of the same features. Malone says the site will remain largely unchanged until a few weeks before the election when updates will be made more frequently. Bridges and Malone used the website to highlight some of their accomplishments during their past four years in office. According to Bridges, the website allows the candidates to highlight some successes that haven't received much coverage in the mainstream press. Malone says the medium is nearly as effective as some of the mailers he expects to send out later in the campaign. "It's already going out to over 800 people and we're going to be forwarding it to anyone who says they want it," Malone said. Though the website links Malone and Bridges together, candidates generally say they aren't trying to link themselves together. Campaigning by ticket Many observers see this November's race as a contest of philosophies. Although Malone and Bridges don't vote together on every issue, they are largely of a like mind when it comes to supporting development issues. Drake and Stinnett come into the race largely seen as anti-development candidates. But Bridges and Malone both point out that the website is the only point where their campaigns intersect. "I don't believe when you're talking about a local arena like Wake Forest it's feasible to run on a ticket," Bridges said. "There is a perception that there is a ticket campaign but I would say I hate that it's gotten that way." Malone says he, too, is aware of the pervading sense that he and Bridges are campaigning as a pair. "There is that 'us-against-them' attitude. But all of our proactive tactics are pretty much independent," Malone said. For their part, Drake and Stinnett say they haven't tried to work together to promote a ticket campaign. Drake, who is an outspoken member of the Wake Forest Planning Board, says he doesn't want to tie Stinnett's fate to his own. "If I say something really stupid, I don't want that to affect her in a bad way," Drake said. "But I would say I'm sympathetic with most of the concerns of Margaret. I consider her a social friend as well as a good person." Stinnett says campaigning with a partner has benefits and drawbacks. "You have the idea of a new voice and a new vision instead of the same old, same old," Stinnett said. "But you aren't going to get two people to vote the same way 100 percent of the time." Whether there is a tag-team effort underway or not, Kaeberlein appears to be the odd man out in the partners' dance. "I agree that a lot of people see Chris (Malone) and Rob running as a pair. I don't know that a lot of people see Frank and Margaret as a pair. And a lot of those people are open to my message," Kaeberlein says. If voters turn out to cast out the incumbents, Kaeberlein says that would mean he stands a good chance to win a seat in a three-way race. "I have to overcome the lack of name recognition. For me in particular without a long history in Wake Forest, the growth has become so great that it has kind of kicked off those ties," Kaeberlein said. Regardless of who wins the election in November, it's clear the strategies of the candidates will focus on two major areas: plenty of legwork and beating the bushes for every possible vote. Stinnett says she's unsure how voter turnout will affect her campaign, but she knows one thing for sure. Win or lose, she wants voters to participate. "I'd rather see 5,000 people vote than 1,000 no matter the winner," she said.
Last Updated On: September 29, 2005
Copyright 2005 The Wake Weekly