Welcome to a different style of campaigning, the quiet, intimate setting of a living room.
While other contenders for the Nov. 5 School Board election were roaming the community last Sunday, hoping to be a magnet for crowds, Sue Robins was campaigning more informally.
In a Barman Avenue living room, businessman Steve Raiken, who pitched a barrel of questions about school policies, hosted a cozy late afternoon gathering drawn by Ms. Robins.
In the center seat of a couch opposite Mr. Raiken, Ms. Robins was flanked by her husband Ted and School Board member Laura Chardiet.
[img]2049|right|Suzanne Robins||no_popup[/img]Only some of the questions were directed at Ms. Robins, the rest at Ms. Chardiet. That is what made it a fascinating – the outtake was unstructured, participatory dialogue with parents.
The president of her own business, Ascend Training Solutions, on Washington Boulevard, one of Ms. Robins’s highlighted views concerned bringing Culver City business leaders into classrooms to spark career ideas in the minds of hungry students who don’t know what they want to do.
None of the inquiries was edgy, and it was not clear whether the parents were favorably impressed or felt otherwise about her responses.