-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Politechnical elected in Michigan
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 01:15:25 -0500 (EST)
From: Lawrence Kestenbaum <polygon@private>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@private>
References: <41879CBE.4010405@private>
Declan,
You may be interested to hear that I was successful in my candidacy for
Washtenaw County Clerk and Register of Deeds in the recent election. I
ran on the Democratic ticket, ousted a popular 14-year Republican
incumbent, and ended seven decades of Republican control, by a vote of
81,322 to 75,425. I take office on January 1st.
Washtenaw County is located in southeastern Michigan, immediately west of
the Detroit area, and includes the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti as
well as numerous small towns and rural areas. The county's population is
about 330,000. The Census Bureau's web site ranks Washtenaw as the 10th
most highly educated county, out of more than 3,000 counties in the United
States.
The County Clerk/Register of Deeds is the chief local election official,
and is in charge of birth, death, and marriage records, court records,
deeds and mortgages, the Jury Board, the Plat Board, and many other
things. The office has a staff of 50 and a budget of more than $1
million.
In my campaign, I highlighted my legal and tech background, my experience
as county commissioner, and my longtime involvement in election issues,
including as director of voter registration drives and attorney in
recounts.
I am the creator and operator of the popular history web site
PoliticalGraveyard.com, as well as the Nigerian Fraud Email Gallery, and
my weblog "Polygon, the Dancing Bear". My online activities helped
attract support and volunteers for my campaign, especially from local
bloggers, genealogists, gays and lesbians, and the local science fiction
fan community. All this supplemented more traditional support from the
county Democratic Party, labor unions, the Jewish community, and many
local leaders including the mayor of Ann Arbor, current and former
legislators, and county officials.
I also created a campaign web site, KestenbaumCampaign.com, and publicized
the URL through flyers and print media.
However, probably the most important factor in my winning was that
Washtenaw County, once strongly Republican, has gradually become more and
more Democratic over the last 30 years. Al Gore in 2000 got 59% here;
John Kerry got 63%. And Democratic voters are now more partisan than in
the past.
I'll be very busy in the coming weeks, but I do plan to continue to
participate in Politech and the ACM Risks Digest, and to continue to
operate the Political Graveyard and my other web sites.
Best wishes!
Larry Kestenbaum
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Lawrence Kestenbaum, polygon@private
The Political Graveyard, http://politicalgraveyard.com
Polygon, the Dancing Bear, http://potifos.com/polygon
Mailing address: P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106
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