It is official -- God help me.

We should document your story and turn it into a script. It could be the next big HBO series. The title could be:

Pepsi Cola and Osceola.

and if we throw in his old mafia dairy friends it could get very interesting

It could be the first series based on a forum thread that was based on real life events

There were no fireworks at the meeting last night, but interestingly it looked like a couple of Board members may even have been performing for the camera. One of them made a few quips and would look over at the camera after each of them.

You should have pointed out that their performance would look more natural if they did not look at the camera after delivering their punchline. That probably wouldn't have gone over well, mind you.

Well, none of them seem to be talking to me much since I pushed the deal with the Village President, so I think that nothing will go over particularly well. It will be very interesting to see how things go if I am elected!

My latest irritation is that they provided all of the candidates with three questions and asked us to write out our own answers. They told us to limit each answer to 100 words. Since that is very little space to play with, I had to limit myself to generalities. (Both of my first two answers were exactly 99 words.) Unfortunately, they did not enforce the limit with anyone else. Other people gave at least 200 word answers that were filled with specifics and figures. That really irritates me since at the Candidate's Forum I was the only one -- incumbent or challenger -- who gave detailed answers including facts and figures, and it is generally agreed that I did the best. However, since the paper never wrote about it only the handful of people who were there know about that. Now they do this, and it let the other candidates turn the tables on me. Not cool.



http://www.osceolasun.com/detail/69301.html

Ask the editor of the underground paper if you can write an editorial around this matter. If a 100-word cap is going to be set, it really ought to enforced, otherwise it sets an unfair playing field.

As an aside, if you find yourself in a similar situation where you are stuck for space and would like to present facts and figures, consider a table or illustration (assuming those are allowed). Using either can sometimes help you present the detail you would like while still allowing you to adhere to word-count restrictions.

Well, clearly they are sloppy in general, so if it happens again I will just write what I want to write. But the election is April 5, so that is the last edition that will carry profiles.

Beyond taking the initiative to distribute more pamphlets or go overboard and run ads, it sounds like your options are limited. After all, this isn't a senate position your going after that would warrant that kind of expense or grandstanding. Will there be any debates before the election?

One can always hope that the public are intelligent enough to see through what has been happening and that word has spread enough to garner you support. Good luck on April 5.

I wish that there was a debate -- I would likely clean up!

These "meet and greet" house parties that we are having are likely going to do more good than any amounts of ads. We have another two this weekend.

And agent has the gumption to call some of the music we listen to crap.

Iago: How did this weekend's open houses go?

lighten up )

They both went very well. That should be the last two before the election, unless something changes at the last minute. Having one that close to the election would be less beneficial anyway. I am confident that I now have the votes of all those who attended; the make-or-break point will be how many people that they pass the message to. I am cautiously optimistic.

This is not meant to be sarcastic, but do you think you have a shot at winning now? I know when you first decided to run that it was more about sending a message.

That is what I meant by "cautiously optimistic." I may actually have a shot at this. The most important thing if I lose (and if the challengers lose) is that we put in a good showing. As long as the race is relative close, there is a good possibility that more people will run next year. If the incumbents win by a landslide, then people may give up.

It sounds like Osceola could use a change, so I wish you the best of luck.

Thanks. Less than a week to go . . .

Best wishes for tomorrow's election. The Supreme Court battle may influence a higher than normal turnout, but I don't know enough about the make-up of the Osceola electorate to hazzard a quess as how that might influence your contest.

Yes, that does make it interesting. A lot of the people who have gotten behind me are definitely opposed to what is going on in Madison right now, so they will be getting out to vote big time. I am staying out of that matter, publicly at least, since as a Village Trustee I have no impact on it one way or the other. The board will simply have to accept the hand that is dealt. There is no reason to offend either side of the issue right now.

"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things."

good luck !

ps. you guys have some big and relatively inexpensive houses compared to the big cities here -



http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Madison_MN

Property values must have really plummeted down there. I am about four hours from Madison, and we paid $171,500 for our house three years ago, and it was originally listed at $240,000 -- and that is in a village of 2700 people, not the capitol city of the State! Not only that, the house that we bought was in forclosure.

Thanks for the good wishes! Today will be the beginning or the end.

I need to move. Average bungalows (of about 1000 square feet) list for $300,000 to $400,000 in my neck of the woods, and often quite more. At least it is not as bad as prices in New York.

Best of luck, Iago.

Thank you!!!!



I am sure that we could find some housing in the Twin Cities for you . . .