Rating: 
Summary: Author's strategy worked!
Review: After becoming very disappointed in the direction of leadership in our local civic organization, a friend of mine and I decided to run as candidates for president and vice-president. We bought this book, followed its strategy and won the election with over 75% of the vote! I later shared this book with a politician friend of mine who decided to run for a high county office in a race against 2 established county officials. He won with over 60% of the vote. I strongly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: Author's strategy worked!
Review: Although simply written this book is not that useful from a UK perspective - many of the things the candidate can do in the US you just cannot do here. Some of the points are useful - on fundraising or targeting voters in general. Not a great buy for a British reader and obviously a gap for a similar book here !
Rating: 
Summary: Good Start
Review: I believe the title of my review says it all. Almost.Before I bought the book, I had never delved into politics. I think that, added to winning two contested elections in two years, says everything. One for county party committee, one for borough council.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Bible
Review: I decided to run for City Council, now knowing anything about how to run or what to do. My Congressman reccommended the book to me, I ordered it, and it was great. It helped me get out of my shell, and go door to door, meet people, ask for money. Not only did I win the election, (beating my opponent who had been in 6 years), but I also raised the most contributions. I was so grateful there was a "bible" for running for office that I could not have done it alone.Thanks so much Mayor Thomas.
Rating: 
Summary: Add it to *your* syllabus
Review: I'm a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and have used several "how to" campaign books over the last 10 years. Most, like this one, are written by very local candidates and have a wonderfully authentic, genuine feel. I like Mr. Thomas' book best of all, and I'm using it again this year. The advice is practical, easy to follow and up-to-date. It compliments other more "theoretical" readings in a political parties or campaigns class. Students often react by thinking, on first reading, that everything is so "obvious" or "common sense," but when I place students as volunteers in campaigns, they tend to be surprised by how many "obvious" things are missed every day. My semi-well-reasoned guess is that 50 percent of local campaigns make very significant strategic or managerial mistakes that wouldn't be made if Mayor Thomas' guidelines were followed.
Rating:
Summary: Must Read If You Are Going To Run For Local Office
Review: In the book 'How To Run For Local Office' author Robert J. Thomas explains his strategy for running for local office. This book is a solid guide for anyone who wants to run a campaign for local office. The book will go over all the basics in detail to run for office.
This book is easy and quick to read and so is a good handbook for running for office. The book is also very well organized so when different phases and events of your campaign occur the campaigner and the staff can look up the particular chapter that deals with what ever is happening and get good advice about what to do.
I would recommend anybody that is thinking about running for a local office read this book among others before getting started. This book isn't a good source for information for running for state or national office. Some of the information would be helpful to state or national office, but much of the information is applicable only to local elections and leaves much info out for running larger campaigns. There are many strategies that aren't mentioned in the book that could be used in local elections so this book shouldn't be the only book you read before campaigning. This book is one of the best though for local elections.
Rating:
Summary: Must Read If You Are Going To Run For Local Office
Review: In the book `How To Run For Local Office' author Robert J. Thomas explains his strategy for running for local office. This book is a solid guide for anyone who wants to run a campaign for local office. The book will go over all the basics in detail to run for office.
This book is easy and quick to read and so is a good handbook for running for office. The book is also very well organized so when different phases and events of your campaign occur the campaigner and the staff can look up the particular chapter that deals with what ever is happening and get good advice about what to do.
I would recommend anybody that is thinking about running for a local office read this book among others before getting started. This book isn't a good source for information for running for state or national office. Some of the information would be helpful to state or national office, but much of the information is applicable only to local elections and leaves much info out for running larger campaigns. There are many strategies that aren't mentioned in the book that could be used in local elections so this book shouldn't be the only book you read before campaigning. This book is one of the best though for local elections.
Rating:
Summary: I lost EVERY battle but I won the WAR!
Review: My opponent was the favored incumbent. She received the endorsement of the local newspaper AND her name was listed on the ballot before mine. All of these small things added up to sure and sudden defeat, right? Well, not so fast!
I purchased Mayor Thomas' book and followed the recommendations to the letter. Almost every suggestion, if not perfect for my situation, could be modified slightly to fit my situation. I had never run for local office before and had, literally, no idea where to begin. This book contained practical, logical, sound advice. I developed my "inner circle" and we found the "good voters" in just the fashion Mayor Thomas said we would. "How To Run For Local Office" also gave me the confidence to create a detailed plan and stick to it. If you're running for local office, you need to do two things. BUY this book, and hope your opponent doesn't!
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: Running for an elected office can be one of the most emotional experiences a person can have. In fact, it is a lot like getting married. It's easy to propose and it's easy to declare a candidacy. The days leading to the altar or the polling booth can be filled with all kinds of ups and downs. This book provides a road map for success on the highway to public office. In a campaign it is easy to get distracted, and this book directly addresses many of the key skills that every candidate or campaign staff member should know. This book is a great gift item and I will be using it in a future class on campaign management.
Rating:
Summary: Best advice I have found on running a campaign!
Review: The advice I found in this book was fantastic! It showed me several ways to save a lot of money in a campaign for public office. I really liked the advice in the first two chapters about what to expect when you get into politics. It was a real eye-opener for me. With all that I have learned from this book, I know that my first campaign will be ten times more effective, and I'll save money at the same time! I would recommend this book to anyone who even thinks they might someday run for office!
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