Preservationeers,

I haven't had time to read the 9,200 accumulated BP messages, but I
thought I'd post a little update in case anyone was wondering what I was
up to.

Not that this should surprise anyone.  I'm running for office, and looking
forward anxiously to the big day, November 2.

I am the Democratic nominee for the sublimely unglamorous position of
Washtenaw County Clerk & Register of Deeds.

As pettifogging as it sounds, this is the most audacious thing I've ever
attempted in politics.  Washtenaw County (which includes Ann Arbor and
Ypsilanti) has more than 700 square miles and about a third of a million
people.  It's the sixth largest in population of Michigan's 83 counties.

The Clerk/Register has 50 employees and a $1 million-plus budget.  And all
of it is stuff that I've been working with all my life: election
administration, record archiving, working with local government officials
and the court system, providing information on the Web, etc.

Admittedly, I'm running against a popular nice-lady 14-year incumbent, and
Republicans have held this position for 70 consecutive years.

But she is an anachronism in this now strongly Democratic county.  My
analysis is that she would probably have lost four years ago, had the
Democrats bothered to put up a candidate.

In the 2000 election, her Republican colleague, the then sheriff, had
bipartisan support, a 5:1 advantage in campaign money, and a Green Party
candidate to split the opposition.  But he was toppled by a young
Democratic upstart, and by a margin of more than eight thousand votes.

2004 is going to be even better for us donkeys.  Of course, John Kerry
will win here by a landslide of unprecedented proportions.  But, more than
that, no one has ever seen Washtenaw County Democrats so organized, so
motivated, and so flooded with thousands of eager campaign volunteers, as
they are this year.

So, I think my chances are pretty good.  Next Tuesday will tell.

                                Larry

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Lawrence Kestenbaum, [log in to unmask]
Candidate for County Clerk/Register, http://KestenbaumCampaign.com
The Political Graveyard, http://politicalgraveyard.com
Weblog: Polygon, the Dancing Bear, http://potifos.com/polygon

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