Friends of Saundra Davis hope that she will take 5 badly needed lessons from her sound defeat in Tuesday’s open primary for the state Senate.
Organization, organization, organization, organization and organization.
[img]397|left|Saundra Davis||no_popup[/img] Whether Ms. Davis chooses to run for a third term on the School Board in November, or for one of the two open seats on the City Council next spring or for Curren Price’s newly won state Senate seat a year from now, the result will be identical unless she undergoes a massive change of attitude and direction.
A hundred and nine years ago, William McKinley was the last politician to win a campaign from his front porch.
Operating by the seat of your pants from the kitchen table does not even work for a neighborhood race in Culver City, let alone a regional election with 400,000 voters.
Ms. Davis scorned the breezing winner of the race, Curren D. Price Jr., for raising $1.4 million, largely from what she described as “special interests,” while she was spending $25,000.
By the darnedest coincidence, that was precisely the gap between Mr. Price’s vote count and Ms. Davis’s.
You Play by Their Rules, or Else
After the results were in, a disheartened Ms. Davis said:
“Money talks. Values walk.”
That sounds like one lesson learned.
So few people voted, 6 percent, it would not surprise me if Mr. Price knew each one by his first name — and cell phone’d them afterward to say thanks.
As Ms. Davis sadly learned, it is not enough to present yourself as pure of mind and pure of heart, then hope and pray that perceptive, appreciative voters will be impressed with your Ivory soap qualities.
As President Obama and Mayor Villaraigosa have proven, you not only need the votes of dead people and illegals, you win only by baring your fangs, not by flashing your well-brushed teeth.
This is not the cozy hometown School Board crowd. Even though a state Senate race may feel dinky alongside more glamourous offices, you are playing with the big dogs when you climb into the arena with legislative candidates.
The fraternity’s rules prevail at all times.
You have to spit, even if there is not a spittoon in the room.
