Andy Weissman, who is expected to be the top votegetter today when about 6,000 residents cast ballots in the City Council race, completed his frontrunning campaign at the lunch hour on Sunday when he knocked on his final door.
“Right now,” he told the newspaper, “it’s just a matter of pacing, until 8 o’clock tonight.”
Since knocking on doors in residential neighborhoods is the central form of campaigning in Culver City, Mr. Weissman was asked how he strategized his walking time.
“I didn’t do anything,” he said. “I have a group of volunteers who figured out where they wanted me to walk on a particular weekend.
“I just went where they pointed me. I have the good fortune to be surrounded by a whole host of good people who were willing to do for me things I was not able to do for myself, such as strategizing.”
Question: You walked for a little more than two months. Did trends emerge with the passage of time. Were the people different at the end?
“It was surprising, the closer we came to Election Day, the number of people who don’t know there is an election or what it is about.
“I expected that at the beginning of the campaign. Who knows, 60 days before, who are running and what the issues are?
“I was surprised at the level of disconnect amongst a lot of people in spite of the fact that candidates were walking all over the city.
“There were still people telling me I was the first candidate to come to their door. They said they hadn’t spoken to anybody else. They didn’t know who was running, how many seats there were. There were people who didn’t know how many people were on the City Council, much less that a majority of seats were up for election.”
Question: How do you treat those people? Give them a 5-minute primer?
“Yes. Clearly the object is to cover as much ground and to see as many people as you can. But if you get an opportunity to speak to somebody who has formed no opinion, I spend the time it takes to persuade them about me.
“You never know, when you conclude and they say ‘Thank you very much,’ whether they are actually going to support you.”
Question: Did you learn to read people during the campaign?
“The people who actually came to the door and opened it were not disinterested. I don’t know how many people were behind the curtains, peering out and refusing to open the door.
“The frustration with walking and knocking on doors is that fully half of them, maybe more, are not home — regardless of the time of day or the day of the week.
“It is nice to have occasion to talk to people.”
For Mr. Weissman’s peace of mind, the wait until the start of vote-counting in Council Chambers tonight is down to a few hours.