And now for my last and most important event of 2007: my work on the Raleigh City Council campaign of Rodger Koopman. I felt like I was finally in my element: helping with strategy, studying voters, hosting a meet-and-greet, minding campaign signs until late in the night, knocking on hundreds of doors, and finally managing poll greeters on election day. It was hard work – possibly the hardest volunteer work I’ve done – but I loved every minute of it.
I began not knowing much about Rodger, only that he was running against an incumbent who had apparently grown deaf to the wishes of constituents. Then I got to know him and was incredibly impressed by his sincerity, motivation, and quick wit. And what do you know, Rodger got elected and somehow it seemed to be over too soon. Now Rodger’s a councilor and already making an impact (ha!) on city politics.
Since the election I’ve been busy with other things, but I’ll never forget the work I did as part of his team, nor the fantastic people who helped in the effort.
And I might have taken a liking to this politics thing.