Jeremy Hannon, the young man from Manteca who ran the late write-in campaign for president, ended up with 11 votes in the June primary. That was the highest among the three GOP write-in candidates.
I exchanged e-mails with Hannon, asking him about the experience. His reply: "Eleven votes may not be a lot in the grand scope, but it is the other experiences that made it worthwhile. During the short campaign cycle I had numerous people that told me that they had already voted absentee or who had registered as 'decline to state' that could not vote in this race, but were very encouraging. I have also had people encourage me to continue on. This shows that an online-driven 'front porch' campaign is possible in the current political climate."
Hannon said his experience may have inspired a relative who is running for a council seat.
"While I will consider running in the future, my focus is going to be on using my technology background to aid in other local races. I would like to leverage the social media and other aspects of technology to communicate with voters in a new way, not just taking existing campaign strategies to a new medium. … I hope that my view, of how I see the world, can be encouraging to others. Hopefully people can see that a conservative Christian can also be intelligent and informed — something a surprising number of people seem to dismiss offhand."
• • •
Not everything in a political notes column or a political publication is about politics. Capitol Alert, The Sacramento Bee blog, spotted the fact that six staffers for California representatives were profiled in The Hill newspaper's annual roundup of Washington's "50 most beautiful people." Two of the six work for Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock. They are:
• Ryan Hanretty, a Sacramento native and former state legislative staffer who told The Hill reporter that he likes McDonald's food and soccer. He indulges in more of the latter than the former to make this list.
• Amanda Muñoz, 24, a press assistant to Denham and former intern to Rep. Kevin McCarthy. She's from Bakersfield.
• • •
Meanwhile, Denham also got some press this week. He was among the representatives named as Working Mother magazine's "Best in Congress" for, in their words, "his leadership in improving the lives of working families." Thirty congressional members applied for and received the designation. In the press release from his office, Denham borrowed from the candidate label he's using these days — "As a father, farmer, small business owner and congressman …"
Back to more serious matters next month, I promise.
Sly is the editor of the Opinions pages. Contact her at (209) 578-2317 or jsly@modbee.com or on Twitter @judysly.
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