Schmidt Drops Ball - Goldner Runs With It

This is the sixth in a series of posts concerning the 2007 elections

Republican Don Schmidt may have lost his city council seat because he forgot to campaign. Schmidt has never been one to run a high profile campaign. He has pretty much left his record speak for him and it has done him well in the past. The last time he campaigned hard was when various phases of the St. Joesph Township annexation voted in the city elections for the first time.

This time Schmidt got caught in the same way that nearly cost Democrat Win Moses his state representative seat, by Matt Kelty. Schmidt and the rest of the party never paid attention to what was going on in his own district.

Upstart Democrat Karen Goldner worked the neighborhoods and met the people. She took a modest campaign fund and used it wisely. She reached out to the voters in second district. She attended all the "meet the candidate" forums that where held. She even posted comments on several local blogs in answering questions raised.

With Schmidt allowing his record to speak for him, he failed to understand in four years many people move in and out of neighborhoods. He failed to match Goldner on mailings to voters that he really wanted to serve another term on council. To many voters, Schmidt had just became a name. His flyers at the end, was too little too late.

While it is easy to blame the Libertarian party for Schmidt's possible defeat, it would be very wrong. Had he campaigned one half of what Goldner did, he would not now be considering asking for a recount in the voting. He would have won, like he has so many other times.