Kansan sticks it to election system
A simple online comic strip raises heaps for his Democratic bid.
OLATHE, KAN. -- When Sean Tevis decided to run for a seat in the Kansas Legislature, he faced a serious problem: money. Local political advisors warned the campaign novice that he would need a war chest of at least $26,000 to compete against his entrenched Republican rival.
It seemed like a fortune to the
39-year-old Democrat. Everyone he knew here was either on a fixed income, worried about losing a job or fretting that the nation's stumbling economy could spread to this southwestern suburb of Kansas City, Kan. So Tevis created a droll online cartoon strip to appeal to potential supporters wherever they might be, using stick figures to represent himself, his GOP opponent and others.
In one panel, a stick-figure Tevis greets a constituent by rattling off a stream of personal facts he's found online about her -- including her birthdate, voting pattern, divorce, paycheck, credit card balances and medical history -- to illustrate his interest in protecting individual privacy.
When she slams the door in his face, the cartoon Tevis muses, "Maybe I should rethink my approach."
"I figured I'd raise a few thousand dollars, at most," for his bid to become a state representative, said Tevis, a computer systems manager who works for an industrial manufacturing company.In one panel, a stick-figure Tevis greets a constituent by rattling off a stream of personal facts he's found online about her -- including her birthdate, voting pattern, divorce, paycheck, credit card balances and medical history -- to illustrate his interest in protecting individual privacy.
When she slams the door in his face, the cartoon Tevis muses, "Maybe I should rethink my approach."
In fact, before he created the comic strip, Tevis spent weeks asking cash-strapped friends and family for help and walking door-to-door in the district. He raised $1,525.
The comic strip -- at www.seantevis.com/3000 -- was first posted online July 16. Today, when he files his campaign finance forms with the Kansas secretary of state's office, Tevis will report that he has raised $95,162.76 in donations through PayPal, the online service that allows payments and money transfers via the Internet.
http://scienceblogs.com/bioephemera/2008/08/electing_geeks.php
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-candidate28-2008jul28,0,4489963.story?page=1
http://www.actblue.com/page/electgeeks
http://www.donengel.com/
http://seantevis.com/kansas/3000/running-for-office-xkcd-style/
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