Licking my wounds...and analyzing the scabs
School board races are interesting creatures: We had 5 candidates in the race for 4 seats. Voters each selected 1, 2, 3, 4, or no candidates for a grand total of over 30,000 votes cast. Over 5,500 voted for me, or about 17.8%. To put things in perspective, 4th and 3rd finished with 18.2% and 19% respectively. It was a razor thin race. I said on my facebook last week that I can empathize know how Al Gore must've felt in Florida with falling just a few hundred votes shy of a majority in 2000.
For inquiring minds, I'll analyze why I fell short:
1) I'm the new guy. All the other candidates have political household names and were able to win with running a minimum amount of advertising and campaigning. That's no disrespect to them, but it's simply how politics works.
2) I'm a south Wilkes-Barre guy. All the other candidates have families in Plains and live in Miners Mills, so I fell short in the five Plains wards and north Wilkes-Barre. Because the residents elected commissioners this year, there was more of a reason for folks living there to come to the polls. A lot of Wilkes-Barre residents stayed home.
3) I won only the Republican nomination. It's hard to pinpoint with certainty how voters split their ballots amongst the candidates, but one thing is certain: the straight party function harmed my candidacy. There is a 4:1 ratio of Democrats to Republicans in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District. Over 30% of Democrats and 25% of Republicans voted the straight party line. That 5% discrepancy alone made the difference between coming in 5th or coming in 4th or 3rd.
4) I just didn't work as hard as I should have. I wore out two pairs of shoes, shed 10 pounds, and met over 10,000 voters on their doorsteps since last February. I was expecting to edge out the competition, but I missed the mark by failing to convince just 116 more people to vote for Harry Haas.
What's in store for the future?
Only God knows. I had a blast meeting so many great people and finding little nooks across the voting area. Kelly Street in Miners Mills, Dauphin Street in South Wilkes-Barre, Almond Lane in the Heights: there's a whole lot of our area that is good and worth bragging about. People are upset about the status quo and real change is required to win back the people's confidence in our elected offices from the school board to the courthouse. Unless the issues on my platform page are addressed, I will run again in 2011. Please keep checking in on harryhaas.com from time to time, and thank you for your past support and present encouragement.
Harry
For inquiring minds, I'll analyze why I fell short:
1) I'm the new guy. All the other candidates have political household names and were able to win with running a minimum amount of advertising and campaigning. That's no disrespect to them, but it's simply how politics works.
2) I'm a south Wilkes-Barre guy. All the other candidates have families in Plains and live in Miners Mills, so I fell short in the five Plains wards and north Wilkes-Barre. Because the residents elected commissioners this year, there was more of a reason for folks living there to come to the polls. A lot of Wilkes-Barre residents stayed home.
3) I won only the Republican nomination. It's hard to pinpoint with certainty how voters split their ballots amongst the candidates, but one thing is certain: the straight party function harmed my candidacy. There is a 4:1 ratio of Democrats to Republicans in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District. Over 30% of Democrats and 25% of Republicans voted the straight party line. That 5% discrepancy alone made the difference between coming in 5th or coming in 4th or 3rd.
4) I just didn't work as hard as I should have. I wore out two pairs of shoes, shed 10 pounds, and met over 10,000 voters on their doorsteps since last February. I was expecting to edge out the competition, but I missed the mark by failing to convince just 116 more people to vote for Harry Haas.
What's in store for the future?
Only God knows. I had a blast meeting so many great people and finding little nooks across the voting area. Kelly Street in Miners Mills, Dauphin Street in South Wilkes-Barre, Almond Lane in the Heights: there's a whole lot of our area that is good and worth bragging about. People are upset about the status quo and real change is required to win back the people's confidence in our elected offices from the school board to the courthouse. Unless the issues on my platform page are addressed, I will run again in 2011. Please keep checking in on harryhaas.com from time to time, and thank you for your past support and present encouragement.
Harry
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