On the campaign trail

Hunter Thompson's Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail provided witty commentary on the 1972 Presidential campaign.

My commentary on the NM1 Congressional race will not be as entertaining.

What have I been doing for Heinrich's NM1 campaign that's kept me from posting? Participating in late-night strategy meetings? Formulating brilliant talking points for the candidate? Digging up dirt on the respected Republican opponent?

Nope.

I've been making my way very slowly through boxes of returned mail. The goal: to update mailing addresses in a database, so that next time there are fewer "undeliverable/return to sender" items. Each of these returns represents wasted postage - $$$, the campaign's lifeblood.

It is not glamorous, exciting, or stimulating.
Check Yahoo People Search. Check another database of registered voters. Check a national database on campaign giving culled from the FEC. Check the ABQ Journal's obituary archive. For less common names, run wide-open Google search.

Finally, concede that this particular address cannot be accurately updated.

I've made my way through about 500 envelopes so far. I'd guess slighly more than 75% have resulted in successful updates. The remaining records are tagged, "Omit Mail". At least the campaign won't waste more $$$ on these bad addresses.

This is what keeps me away from al Qaeda in Albuquerque.

The more envelopes I process today, the fewer remain. Those 500 I've processed to date represent perhaps 20% of the total.

Sigh.

Sing a song.