[img]2333|right|Christopher Patrick King||no_popup[/img]Perhaps unusually for a first-time candidate, Christopher Patrick King may have been the best-researched and most articulate contender on the City Council campaign trail the past four months – leading up to today’s showdown election
By comparison, the two incumbents defending their seats, Mayor Jeff Cooper and Councilman Jim Clarke, had it easy. They merely alluded to their considerable accomplishments at each campaign stop, taking bows for having rescued City Hall from the recession’s brink.
Mr. King needed to be imaginative – and he was.
Mr. King needed to be articulate – and he was.
Mr. King needed to be clear – and he was.
Mr. King needed to think swiftly, substantively, transparently and pragmatically in squeeze situations.
Rarely has a candidate, and perhaps never has a freshman contender, been as densely prepared as the 31-year-old Mr. King. If you closed your eyes, you never would know that he was less than half the age of one of the two incumbents.
Admittedly, his community profile is far lower than Mr. Clarke or Mr. Cooper. But that is not really his fault. The Northern California native and UCLA graduate has lived in Culver City (Fox Hills) for nine years, and he has been widely involved civically.
Mr. King has owned his own mortgage business since he was 26 years old.
He and his team of young volunteers have walked the city for 120 days.
“We have tried our best to make sure we covered the entire city, which we have,” Mr. King said last night. “Right now we are tying up the loose ends. If we had a street here, a street there, we are making sure we get there.”
Compared to the first Sunday in December, when he launched, Mr. King said “I actually feel more secure and empowered. It was one thing to pull papers, to be excited and passionate. Now, though, it is doing so much work, being so active, having run what I think has been a very solid campaign.
“(Today) we are going to be making sure we get our supporters out to vote,” Mr. King said with a smile.
