Showing posts with label 2004 election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2004 election. Show all posts
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Monday, October 27, 2014
Friday, March 12, 2010
DIARY OF A CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE by Richard Grayson now available at Amazon Kindle store
Richard Grayson's Diary of a Congressional Candidate is now available at Amazon's Kindle Store for 99¢.
The product description is taken from the Kirkus Discoveries review of a previous print edition of the material:
A witty campaign diary by a wannabe Congressman far too clever to ever be elected. In the spring of 2004, Grayson announced his bid to unseat the firmly entrenched Republican incumbent in Florida’s fourth Congressional district. Grayson’s long-shot run was made even longer by a number of factors: First, a South Floridian, Grayson had neither the time nor the money to travel to the Florida fourth, located on the Georgia border. Second, unable to afford the $9,000 filing fee, he could only run as a write-in candidate. Third, he was a gay, pro-choice, anti-war, anti-death-penalty liberal running for office in the state’s most conservative district. Grayson chronicled his efforts as a “mock-challenger” in a series of postings on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency website, and here he collects these postings in a slim, delectable volume. The author’s wry deadpan punctuates almost every entry. Funny and devastatingly incisive.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Kirkus Discoveries reviews Richard Grayson's WRITE-IN: DIARY OF A CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE IN FLORIDA'S FOURTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
Kirkus Discoveries has reviewed Richard Grayson's WRITE-IN: Diary of a Congressional Candidate in Florida's Fourth Congressional District:
WRITE-IN
Diary of a Congressional Candidate in Florida's Fourth Congressional District
Author: Grayson, Richard
Review Date: JANUARY 18, 2008
Publisher:Dumbo Books
Pages: 128
Price (paperback): $9.95
Publication Date: February 22, 2007
ISBN (paperback): 978-0-6151-4111-4
Category: AUTHORS
Classification: NONFICTION
A witty campaign diary by a wannabe Congressman far too clever to ever be elected.
In the spring of 2004, Grayson announced (mainly to himself) his bid to unseat the firmly entrenched Republican incumbent in Florida’s fourth Congressional district. Grayson’s long-shot run was made even longer by a number of factors: First, a South Floridian, Grayson had neither the time nor the money to travel to the Florida fourth, located on the Georgia border. Second, unable to afford the $9,000 filing fee, he could only run as a write-in candidate. Third, he was a gay, pro-choice, anti-war, anti-death-penalty liberal running for office in the state’s most conservative district. These insurmountable challenges—and the biting humor with which Grayson faced them—led one sympathetic journalist to call him “every seasoned politician’s worst fear: a verbose, unknown, unrestrained, write-in mock-challenger.” Grayson chronicled his efforts as a “mock-challenger” in a series of postings on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency website, and here he collects these postings in a slim, delectable volume. The author’s wry deadpan punctuates almost every entry, and his commentary is equal parts funny, sad and true. He benefits as much from his own droll intelligence as from the fact that American politics seem to have devolved into a theatre of the absurd; some of the best laughs come from Grayson’s merely transcribing passages from election questionnaires, publicity packets and political journalism that he encounters during his “campaign.” Nonetheless, the critique of election politics that his run represents is as hilarious as it is completely legitimate; gerrymandering and the incredible advantages of incumbency have resulted in a system where challengers for U.S. House seats—both “mock” and real—are defeated the vast majority of the time. And after reading this, one is left with the sinking feeling that even a thousand Graysons might never change this broken system.
Funny and devastatingly incisive.
WRITE-IN
Diary of a Congressional Candidate in Florida's Fourth Congressional District
Author: Grayson, Richard
Review Date: JANUARY 18, 2008
Publisher:Dumbo Books
Pages: 128
Price (paperback): $9.95
Publication Date: February 22, 2007
ISBN (paperback): 978-0-6151-4111-4
Category: AUTHORS
Classification: NONFICTION
A witty campaign diary by a wannabe Congressman far too clever to ever be elected.
In the spring of 2004, Grayson announced (mainly to himself) his bid to unseat the firmly entrenched Republican incumbent in Florida’s fourth Congressional district. Grayson’s long-shot run was made even longer by a number of factors: First, a South Floridian, Grayson had neither the time nor the money to travel to the Florida fourth, located on the Georgia border. Second, unable to afford the $9,000 filing fee, he could only run as a write-in candidate. Third, he was a gay, pro-choice, anti-war, anti-death-penalty liberal running for office in the state’s most conservative district. These insurmountable challenges—and the biting humor with which Grayson faced them—led one sympathetic journalist to call him “every seasoned politician’s worst fear: a verbose, unknown, unrestrained, write-in mock-challenger.” Grayson chronicled his efforts as a “mock-challenger” in a series of postings on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency website, and here he collects these postings in a slim, delectable volume. The author’s wry deadpan punctuates almost every entry, and his commentary is equal parts funny, sad and true. He benefits as much from his own droll intelligence as from the fact that American politics seem to have devolved into a theatre of the absurd; some of the best laughs come from Grayson’s merely transcribing passages from election questionnaires, publicity packets and political journalism that he encounters during his “campaign.” Nonetheless, the critique of election politics that his run represents is as hilarious as it is completely legitimate; gerrymandering and the incredible advantages of incumbency have resulted in a system where challengers for U.S. House seats—both “mock” and real—are defeated the vast majority of the time. And after reading this, one is left with the sinking feeling that even a thousand Graysons might never change this broken system.
Funny and devastatingly incisive.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Matt Bell reviews Richard Grayson's WRITE-IN: DIARY OF A CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE IN FLORIDA'S FOURTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
Matt Bell reviewed Richard Grayson's WRITE-IN: Diary of a Congressional Candidate in Florida's Fourth Congressional District on his blog on December 4, 2006:
In 2004, Richard Grayson (author of With Hitler in New York and And To Think He Kissed Him on Lorimer Street) ran as a write-in Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives against a firmly entrenched Republican incumbent. His opponent, Republican Representative Ander Crenshaw, is almost abstract in his role as antagonist, having enough funding, support, and staff that defending his seat barely requires he even take notice of Grayson, who has no staff, no funding, and, at least, initially, no support. It's to Grayson's great credit that although he always knows what the outcome will be in his race for the House, he still puts an admirable amount of effort and time into reaching each potential supporter he comes across.
Grayson originally chronicled his race online for McSweeney's Internet Tendency (where you can still read the entire manuscript), and has republished his diary in book form. Here's an excerpt from the first entry from Grayson's book:
Grayson writes with a self-deprecating wit and a keen eye for the realities of both our overall political situation and that of Florida's Fourth District, where his campaign takes place. Times move fast, and after the semi-uplifting Democratic victory this past November, it may be hard to remember exactly how bleak things felt for progressive or Democratic voters in late 2004, but Grayson's diary, written in the heat of the moment, manages to chronicle not only the desperate backdrop of that election but also the awakening sense of progressive community that was nearly destroyed by the spirit-crushing reelection of George W. Bush and his Congress. Grayson writes much like he ran for the House, in that he isn't so much trying to convert us as voters as much as he is trying to show us that we do still have options when he vote, despite what our political situation seems to allow.
When asked what he'll do to support traditional marriage, Grayson says he'll kill Liza Minelli. His favorite part of living in Florida's beautiful Fourth District? "The hurricanes." He tells the same reporter that he's "too lazy to be in Congress," because "it's a lot of work." Openly transgressive when answering reporters and filling out lobbyist group questionnaire, Grayson couches every answer in a wit that's as cynically sarcastic as it is big-hearted, leading to the confusion of his interviewers and friendly recognition on the part of this reader, whose contradictory feelings of cynicism and optimism from 2004 were both crushed and vindicated by the final results of that election.
Clocking in at just over one hundred pages, Grayson's Diary of a Congressional Candidate in Florida's Fourth Congressional District is a deceptively quick read. Still, it's bigger than it looks. I finished the book in a single evening, but have found myself returning to it to enjoy not only the absurdity of the political situations but also the fine humor of Grayson's prose and the sense of comradery that permeates every page. He so openly shares the details of his ironic, winking candidacy that it's impossible not to cheer him on. Towards the end, a voter writes Grayson a letter thanking him for trying that the voter signs "your constituent," a sentiment that I too felt by the time I turned the final page. Although Grayson lost the race, his book tells it like a victory march, celebrating every small triumph won against impossible odds.
I couldn't agree more.
In 2004, Richard Grayson (author of With Hitler in New York and And To Think He Kissed Him on Lorimer Street) ran as a write-in Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives against a firmly entrenched Republican incumbent. His opponent, Republican Representative Ander Crenshaw, is almost abstract in his role as antagonist, having enough funding, support, and staff that defending his seat barely requires he even take notice of Grayson, who has no staff, no funding, and, at least, initially, no support. It's to Grayson's great credit that although he always knows what the outcome will be in his race for the House, he still puts an admirable amount of effort and time into reaching each potential supporter he comes across.
Grayson originally chronicled his race online for McSweeney's Internet Tendency (where you can still read the entire manuscript), and has republished his diary in book form. Here's an excerpt from the first entry from Grayson's book:
I'm the only registered Democrat in the race. But, unable to afford the nine-thousand-dollar filing fee to get the official party designation, I'm a write-in candidate. Under Florida's bizarre election laws, write-in votes count only if they're for "qualified" candidates like me.
If I weren't a candidate, Congressman Crenshaw's name wouldn't be on the November ballot. There just wouldn't be an election. Four of Florida's twenty-five House members were elected this afternoon when they did not get a primary or write-in opponent.
Over 90 percent of Americans live in congressional districts that are essentially one-party monopolies. Of Florida's twenty-five House seats, seven are safe for Democrats, and sixteen are safe for Republicans.
The Fourth is the most Republican district in the state. But I'm hoping to give anyone opposed to Crenshaw's positions a chance to vote for someone else.
In the last Congress, Crenshaw voted for more Bush tax cuts and the war in Iraq. He supported oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, limiting the Patients' Bill of Rights, and banning "partial-birth" abortion. Crenshaw voted against campaign-finance reform.
As of March, his campaign committee had $612,691 in cash.
Mine had bupkis.
Grayson writes with a self-deprecating wit and a keen eye for the realities of both our overall political situation and that of Florida's Fourth District, where his campaign takes place. Times move fast, and after the semi-uplifting Democratic victory this past November, it may be hard to remember exactly how bleak things felt for progressive or Democratic voters in late 2004, but Grayson's diary, written in the heat of the moment, manages to chronicle not only the desperate backdrop of that election but also the awakening sense of progressive community that was nearly destroyed by the spirit-crushing reelection of George W. Bush and his Congress. Grayson writes much like he ran for the House, in that he isn't so much trying to convert us as voters as much as he is trying to show us that we do still have options when he vote, despite what our political situation seems to allow.
When asked what he'll do to support traditional marriage, Grayson says he'll kill Liza Minelli. His favorite part of living in Florida's beautiful Fourth District? "The hurricanes." He tells the same reporter that he's "too lazy to be in Congress," because "it's a lot of work." Openly transgressive when answering reporters and filling out lobbyist group questionnaire, Grayson couches every answer in a wit that's as cynically sarcastic as it is big-hearted, leading to the confusion of his interviewers and friendly recognition on the part of this reader, whose contradictory feelings of cynicism and optimism from 2004 were both crushed and vindicated by the final results of that election.
Clocking in at just over one hundred pages, Grayson's Diary of a Congressional Candidate in Florida's Fourth Congressional District is a deceptively quick read. Still, it's bigger than it looks. I finished the book in a single evening, but have found myself returning to it to enjoy not only the absurdity of the political situations but also the fine humor of Grayson's prose and the sense of comradery that permeates every page. He so openly shares the details of his ironic, winking candidacy that it's impossible not to cheer him on. Towards the end, a voter writes Grayson a letter thanking him for trying that the voter signs "your constituent," a sentiment that I too felt by the time I turned the final page. Although Grayson lost the race, his book tells it like a victory march, celebrating every small triumph won against impossible odds.
I couldn't agree more.
Monday, May 24, 2004
Jacksonville's Folio Weekly reports on Richard Grayson's campaign for Florida's Fourth Congressional District
Jacksonville's Folio Weekly newspaper has a story by Hamilton Nolan today (May 25, 2004) reporting on Richard Grayson's candidacy for the U.S. House in Florida's Fourth Congressional District.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
