By Dwight Patel

We are heading into the hot, hazy, not-so-lazy days of summer for candidates.  It starts with Memorial Day weekend, which marks the beginning of the summer festivals season.

This is what you should do in order to be ready for this segment of your campaign:

By Dwight Patel

It is very important for candidates to have dynamic interactive websites.  Nearly two-thirds of US adults use social media, and for many, it is the first source for news and information gathering. Online ads not only put campaigns in a position of power by bolstering efforts, but also provide an easy way to communicate relevant news and messaging to an increasingly captive audience.

Your website and social media presence need to be interactive.  Don’t rely on pages of text and a few pictures.  Don’t be afraid to use videos, especially on social media, like Facebook and Twitter.  Social media platforms allow for voters to experience a deeper level of connectivity with a campaign, and every post, tweet, and policy stance is scrutinized by the world. 

By Dwight Patel, 1st Vice Chair, MCGOP

Many people say we live in an ADD nation that only has an attention span of 30 seconds. True or not, as a candidate, you need to be able to craft your message to a potential voter in 30 seconds.  

By Dwight Patel

Despite what some tech-savvy web designers and Internet specialists might say, we still haven’t reached a point in our society where a website is a must-have for every local political campaign.

By Dwight Patel

You can’t win a campaign just by knocking on doors, especially when you have a district of 1,000 homes or more.  You need money to pay printers, TV stations, radio stations, the webmaster, the post office and the phone company. 

The bottom line is that you need to raise money and you shouldn’t be ashamed to ask for it. If you are, you may have a fear of rejection, and if that’s the case, you may be thinking that your campaign is more about you than about the cause.  Remember that if you are running to advance a cause, everything you do is about the cause.  After all, keep in mind that you are not asking your friends, family and strangers for money for yourself -- you are asking for money so that you can go and fight for their cause, which will improve the quality of life for your constituents. If that’s not the case, then you might need to take a second look at why you are running for office.

By Dwight Patel

Congratulations! You guys have all filed for your respective offices, the deadlines have passed, and some of you running in Maryland are lucky enough to have no Democrat challenger.   Those of you without challengers should continue raising money.  Those with primaries should not only keep raising money, but also hit the Republican speaking circuits.  Those with just a Democrat challenger should keep in mind that this is a marathon, not a sprint.  You have 244 days to Election Day. 

Candidates, if you haven’t filed yet, the filing deadline in Maryland is February 27, 2018 at 9 p.m. if you’re planning to run for office in November 2018.  You can get started by going to the MD Board of Elections to begin your paperwork. 

by Dwight Patel

I’m taking a little break from campaign advice to talk about Maryland’s first Republican governor during my lifetime.  In 2002, Robert Ehrlich ran for governor on a platform of fixing Maryland after 8 years of Parris Glendening who ran the state into the ground.  (What is it with these Democrat governors and running the states into the ground? It always takes a Republican to fix the mess created by Democrats).

By Dwight Patel

Now that 2017 is in the rear view mirror, let’s take a look back and examine some of the things you should have done by this time:

• Should have identified the office you are planning to run for, or at least narrowed it down to possible offices. If you haven’t done so, you really need to focus on this goal. Please refer to Dr. Politics Issue No. 1 for a list of offices and their requirements.

By Dwight Patel, MCGOP First Vice Chairman

It is getting close to the candidates’ filing deadline date, which is Tuesday, February 27, 2018 by 9:00pm.  So, please, if you haven’t done so already, go to the MD Board of Elections website and download the forms to file for the office you wish to run for. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about preparing for questions you will most likely get, and the right and wrong way of answering them.