I'm in a Congressional debate (or two)

[Loren]

A few weeks back, I contacted the Atlanta Press Club to ask if I might take part in their televised debate. I was told 'no' (they don't allow write-ins), but also learned that they weren't going to have a televised debate this year. The other local host isn't having one either.

So this leaves only local debates and candidate forums, the first of which I learned about a week or two ago. The first forum was this past Monday, and I contacted them too late to participate. The organizers were terribly apologetic, though.

Following the forum, however, I took the opportunity to meet one of my opponents, Catherine Davis (http://catherinedavis.org/). (Hank Johnson was unable to attend.) Alas, she hadn't heard of me, but I explained who I was, and that I thought it was polite to introduce myself before meeting her onstage on Thursday. She was rather gracious, and even got out her Blackberry to tell me about all the other forums that are coming up. Now I'm getting in touch with them too.

Tomorrow, though, marks my first real public appearance, at a candidate forum in Lilburn. (It's at 7 pm at Lilburn City Hall, for any metro Atlantans here.) And I've been invited to another forum in Avondale on the 26th. The TV organizers may not want me, but folks on the local level seem to be a lot more open. I'm waiting to hear back from a few other organizers as well.

I'm really looking forward to these. My only real concern is being hit with an unexpected, fact-sensitive question. That's an open invitation to look really ignorant. Public speaking itself doesn't bother me, but I'm a bit rusty at it. My hope is that even though a lot of people won't know me at the start, hopefully they'll like me by the end.

Wish me luck.

[Stellar]

isn't there some sort of prep time for debates? down here we get at least a week. i doubt you'll be caught by surprise, you seem like a guy who does his research.

and starting small is never a bad thing

[Jeff Brady]

Following the forum, however, I took the opportunity to meet one of my opponents, Catherine Davis (http://catherinedavis.org/). (Hank Johnson was unable to attend.) Alas, she hadn't heard of me, but I explained who I was, and that I thought it was polite to introduce myself before meeting her onstage on Thursday. She was rather gracious, and even got out her Blackberry to tell me about all the other forums that are coming up. Now I'm getting in touch with them too.

I'm impressed by Ms Davis' treatment of her opponent.

Break a few legs, Loren!

[Cyke]

Knock 'em dead, Loren!

Well... not literally, but yeah.

[Ontir]

Break a leg, "Grassroots!" :D

[Nick Soapdish]

Great!

Good luck in the debates!

[Loren]

isn't there some sort of prep time for debates? down here we get at least a week. i doubt you'll be caught by surprise, you seem like a guy who does his research.

Thanks. For this first forum, at least, they've provided us with a list of prepared questions the organizers will ask. I'm not sure what the others will do.

And I heard back from the organizer at Agnes Scott University earlier tonight. She consulted with the co-sponsors, and they held firm to their traditional stance of 'no qualified write-ins.' However, they've offered me 3 minutes at the end of the debate to address the audience (plus my name in the program), so in a way, I get the last word. And I get to take part in the meet & greet beforehand. This appears to be one of the bigger candidate forums, so I'm pleased to be getting at least some exposure.

[Loren]

That was fun.

The forum lasted for about two hours, and I apparently did pretty well for my first time out. My opponents have done enough of these already that they've developed their mini-speeches on issues (some of which I recognized from Monday's forum), whereas I had my bullet points to make, but largely had to ad-lib the framework as I went along. I stumbled a few times more than I wanted to, but I successfully avoided the "ums" and "uhs" that often plague my normal speech. Having done this once now, I'm better prepared for next time, and I'll be a little more polished.

It was a fairly small turnout, and most of the audience consisted of people who were there explicitly to support one or the other of my opponents (as in wearing their campaign t-shirts or buttons). No young people either. That's a hard crowd to win over. Although several did compliment me afterward, which felt very good. And my parents seem proud.

Tomorrow it's back to calling the other forum organizers. Now I can say I've already participated in a forum. A reporter from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was there too, so hopefully that'll be a card I can play too.

[Justin Davis]

Glad to hear things went well, Loren. Did you use any of the info you got from your teachers thread?

[Loren]

Glad to hear things went well, Loren. Did you use any of the info you got from your teachers thread?

Sure did, including the stuff you had to say. One of the folks who attended to see me was my best friend's dad, who was one of my high school teachers. When I started badmouthing NCLB, he was there in the back row, nodding along intensely.

[Justin Davis]

Sure did, including the stuff you had to say. One of the folks who attended to see me was my best friend's dad, who was one of my high school teachers. When I started badmouthing NCLB, he was there in the back row, nodding along intensely.


I don't doubt that at all. To placate some egos around here (no, not mine at all), what did you use from info you learned here? I'm interested in how much CBR affects or influences our offline lives.

[Loren]

I don't doubt that at all. To placate some egos around here (no, not mine at all), what did you use from info you learned here? I'm interested in how much CBR affects or influences our offline lives.

Well, the question was "What ideas do you have to improve the current state of education in Georgia through your seat in Congress?" And I had two minutes to answer. So I didn't get to squeeze in everything about NCLB that I wanted to, but it's what I started off with.

I said that NCLB is a prime example of why the federal government *shouldn't* be involved in education. I referred to NCLB as a boondoggle, and called its standards arbitrary and contradictory. I said that it focused too much on teaching to the test, rather than substantive learning. And I tried to relay your story about creativity vs. rigid expectations, but I don't think I told it well enough to make the audience understand me.

I wish I'd had a question simply about NCLB to share more material. More importantly, I wish I'd written more of it down as notes, since I was pretty much working from memory. I really blew the opportunity to use Joe's simple point about putting the power back in the hands of the teacher. It's a powerful point that I think resonates with most everybody. I talked about local control, but I failed to focus on classroom control.

So when I polish up my education comments, I'll organize it a little better. I'll also be adding something my friend's dad said he wanted to hear from a politician: that no matter how much money you throw at a school, the students simply won't succeed without active parental support and involvement. It's a deeper personal and cultural issue, one that school funding (or smaller classrooms, or more standardized tests) can't do much to help.

[Loren]

My brother's a photography junkie, but unfortunately, the only debate he's been able to attend was the one where they refused to let me speak. However, last Thursday I remembered my own camera, and my dad snapped off a couple of shots. This was the best of them (after some cleanup work):

http://voteloren.com/podium2.jpg

[Athena Bast]

My brother's a photography junkie, but unfortunately, the only debate he's been able to attend was the one where they refused to let me speak. However, last Thursday I remembered my own camera, and my dad snapped off a couple of shots. This was the best of them (after some cleanup work):

http://voteloren.com/podium2.jpg

How old are you? 16?

[Mike Smash!]

It would probably be a good idea for you to get a new haircut, Loren. Though well spoken, this one makes you look a lot younger than you actually are.

[Loren]

It would probably be a good idea for you to get a new haircut, Loren. Though well spoken, this one makes you look a lot younger than you actually are.

Fair enough. A few months back, I tried out a new hair place (had a coupon), and told them I'd be willing to try something new. And it still ended up looking pretty much the same the next day.

Here's my headshot:

http://www.voteloren.com/headshot.jpg

Any suggestions on what kind of haircut to try? Say, what celebrity I should try to emulate?

[Noah Johnson]

Try combing it straight back. See what that does.

[o1pickleboy]

Your hair and look is almost the same as mine. I would go very short try for police officer or miltarty short. I find it doesn't make me look older and meaner.(Which balances out with the nice guy look. To give you just a serious look)

Also I would try some facial Hair. If you can grow it. With my goatee I look like I am in my twenties. Without it I look 16.

Try combining the two, then also experiment and see how often you get carded trying to buy alochol or cigrettes.(if you don't smoke or drink go to wal mart and try to buy a quit smoking kit or anything with the ingrediants to meth in it.)

[Dan Apodaca]

Your hair and look is almost the same as mine. I would go very short try for police officer or miltarty short. I find it doesn't make me look older and meaner.(Which balances out with the nice guy look. To give you just a serious look)

I'd say go for something inbetween there and what he's got now. The super-short cut can make you look unapproachable, which can be damaging in local politics.

Tell them you want a short business cut, Loren.

[Dennis K]

I think it's great that you're running for Congress. Good luck Loren.

[Athena Bast]

Fair enough. A few months back, I tried out a new hair place (had a coupon), and told them I'd be willing to try something new. And it still ended up looking pretty much the same the next day.

Here's my headshot:

http://www.voteloren.com/headshot.jpg

Any suggestions on what kind of haircut to try? Say, what celebrity I should try to emulate?

Ya gots to lose the Ted Koppel hair.;)

[Loren]

On the subject of Congress and haircuts:

Capitol Domes: Radar investigates the eight worst trends in congressional coifs (http://www.radaronline.com/features/2006/09/capitol_domes.php)

[Paradox]

o1pickleboy has right move/wrong venue:

Also I would try some facial Hair. If you can grow it. With my goatee I look like I am in my twenties. Without it I look 16.

True, but this is politics. Facial hair = untrustworthy Don't aske me why, but it's true. ESPECIALLY a goatee. It's too Satanic.

At least on the young guys...the old guys can get away with beards...

[Loren]

True, but this is politics. Facial hair = untrustworthy Don't aske me why, but it's true. ESPECIALLY a goatee. It's too Satanic.

I tried facial hair a couple of years ago, and it didn't work. The only part that looked decent was the goatee, which even if it doesn't look Satanic, sure doesn't exude professionalism.

[Loren]

I put a new campaign ad up on YouTube. And this time, it's not just an animated gif; it actually has video, and it actually features me.

Loren Collins for Congress (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM7xim-Gyzs)

Now this ad didn't exactly turn out the way I'd hoped. The intention was to have me give a fairly straightforward introduction, with responsive commentary and details popping up on the left hand side of the screen, a la Colbert's "The Word." Unfortunately, it turned out that my video editor couldn't handle such overlays, so I decided to go ahead and upload the existing video rather than wait to find another means of finishing it.

This also means that the ad ends up a wee bit more static than I'd intended. This was a consequence of not actually having a cameraman; I had to film the ad by myself. And at home. I am, however, very satisfied with the video quality, as this was filmed on my new Canon S3 handheld camera, and not an actual video camera.

Now I'm just trying to figure out what I can say and do to make more of these ads in these last two weeks. I have two ideas already, but my resources are pretty limited. Unlike some candidates (http://www.youtube.com/profile_video_blog?id=DB8D5888BE09DE17), I can't afford an elephant for my ads.

[Ed Cunard]

I put a new campaign ad up on YouTube. And this time, it's not just an animated gif; it actually has video, and it actually features me.

Loren Collins for Congress (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM7xim-Gyzs)

That's a refreshing change of pace from most political advertisements, and it's kind of neat to hear your voice and see you move and stuff.

Now I'm just trying to figure out what I can say and do to make more of these ads in these last two weeks. I have two ideas already, but my resources are pretty limited. Unlike some candidates (http://www.youtube.com/profile_video_blog?id=DB8D5888BE09DE17), I can't afford an elephant for my ads.

As far as content, I can't help you, but I think you may want to try to fill up more of the frame--it might make your delivery feel more intimate.

[Loren]

As far as content, I can't help you, but I think you may want to try to fill up more of the frame--it might make your delivery feel more intimate.

I understand. I probably would have done so for this one, except when I was filming, I needed to leave the left half of the screen available for text. (A great part of my camera is that it has a flip-out screen that can rotate completely around. So I could position the camera, start recording, and then walk to my spot and look to the screen to see how I was situated in the frame. That's what made this one-man shoot feasible.)

Behind the scenes tidbit: I'm actually standing on a couple of my Georgia lawbooks. When reviewing earlier takes, I decided I was too short in the frame. So I boosted myself by about two inches.

[Ray R.]

As far as content, I can't help you, but I think you may want to try to fill up more of the frame--it might make your delivery feel more intimate.

I agree with this. Good presentation by the way. Good luck.

My other suggestion might be to rent a lapel mike, so you lose the echo effect on your audio. You also might want to put your name, if you've got a placard, behind you, so voters resonate the face with the name come poll booth time. And Ed's suggestion on a tighter shot.

Again, I wish you the best, and if I were in Georgia, I'd be happy to help you out.

[Ontir]

Loren,

First, you're kind of baby-faced, I didn't think you were so young. The framing also makes you look a little like you're swimming in your suit coat. Try framing in a bit tighter, and at maybe a 15º angle, which can then cheat a bit of the space behind you for graphics, as well as cutting off more of your torso, allowing the meal ticket (your face) to command the screen.

The placard is a good idea, even if you hold it (which reinforces the grassroots/home-spun/no special interests/I'm one of you idea), having your name, and web-site listed will help.

Over all, I really like it. We need more independents in every district, in every race, across the nation!

[Loren]

My other suggestion might be to rent a lapel mike, so you lose the echo effect on your audio. You also might want to put your name, if you've got a placard, behind you, so voters resonate the face with the name come poll booth time. And Ed's suggestion on a tighter shot.

I'm not sure I can do the lapel mike, given the camera's limitations. I wish I could. But I agree on the placard, and it's something I'd already planned to do when I do some more shooting tonight (and you've reminded me to print out a placard here at work). In fact, I would've included that information in this one, if only I'd been able to overlay that text like I'd hoped.

I'll also move a little closer to the camera, which should help with my size in the frame, and also improve my voice quality a little. I think I should probably turn off my computer too, just to eliminate that hum.

Thanks for the tips.

[Ed Cunard]

How is the campaign going, by the way? Have you made any impact in polls or coverage or anything like that?

[Loren]

How is the campaign going, by the way? Have you made any impact in polls or coverage or anything like that?

Despite being a Congressional election, this race has flown very much under the public's radar. The primary (where Cynthia McKinney lost) was practically national news, but the general election has gotten virtually no press. There haven't been any polls, at least not any that I've seen. (And they usually don't include write-ins in polls, anyway.) The only poll I've actually seen is the unscientific Election Pulse on Facebook.com, where I'm pulling in 17% at the moment.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has only run two articles on the race in the past month. The first was about how little interest there was in the race. The second, which I shared here, gave me wonderfully equal treatment. None of the other newspapers responded to my emails, but I don't know if they've been running articles on the race either.

I've been fortunate to participate in virtually every local candidate forum I've contacted. One was last night, the next is this Thursday. The audiences at these things are mostly made up of existing supporters of my opponents, but based on folks who talk to me afterward, I'm at least making a good impression. (Although I could've done better on some audience questions last night. The default libertarian answer for "What will you do in Congress for local issue X" is not exactly a crowd-pleaser.) I do make the audience laugh more than my opponents combined. Both of them are functionally good speakers, but they're rather dry to listen to.

I had a woman email me yesterday, saying she admired my gumption, and that she could bring a couple of girls dressed as blind justice and the statue of liberty, for me to pose with as a photo op. I eventually decided, why not? When I called her it was too late for last night's forum, but she told me she wanted something in return. She wants me to paint myself green for the debate. Then when I'm asked why I'm green, I say "To show that I, too, am a person of color."

I believe this woman may be insane. Maybe she's trying to ruin me.

[Ontir]

She wants me to paint myself green for the debate. Then when I'm asked why I'm green, I say "To show that I, too, am a person of color."

I believe this woman may be insane. Maybe she's trying to ruin me.


Tell her that pastey's a colour too!

...or, you could do it, and tell everyone that this is the only green your campaign has accepted!

[Loren]

I took y'all's suggestions, and here's what I ended up with:

Loren Collins for Congress - "Bull Moose" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bD-eboRJz8)

[Ray R.]

I took y'all's suggestions, and here's what I ended up with:

Loren Collins for Congress - "Bull Moose" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bD-eboRJz8)

Nice work. I like it. Give 'em hell, Loren.

[Justin Davis]

I took y'all's suggestions, and here's what I ended up with:

Loren Collins for Congress - "Bull Moose" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bD-eboRJz8)

I didn't think I'd ever see the Bull Moose party brought back. Good commercial, Loren. Still, I have to say... you look really young in that commercial. Maybe you should give yourself some Richard Reeds gray streaks.

[Loren]

I didn't think I'd ever see the Bull Moose party brought back. Good commercial, Loren. Still, I have to say... you look really young in that commercial. Maybe you should give yourself some Richard Reeds gray streaks.

Last night was another candidate forum, albeit for multiple races. I only got a chance to give a 2-minute introduction and answer two questions (immigration and education), and I didn't really hit my stride until midway through the first question. I've kept modifying the content of my opening stump speech, so I never got it really polished.

Anyhow, at the start of my education answer, I talked about how I believe the school system should adopt a required class in personal finance. I said, "When I was in high school...and that was longer ago than some of y'all are probably thinking..."

I got the biggest laugh of the night out of that.