In 1980 my life was altered by one of the greats of our time. In November of that year, Ronald Reagan won the presidency, but that's not what I am referring to. In 1980 Larry Bird came to Boston. For the subsequent winter months my father and I would huddle around the small TV in our sun porch in Kittery and watch every Celtics game. We had not watched this religiously before, and we haven't really watched much since. With his working man's style of play, Larry Bird restored the Celtics franchise to glory and renewed our faith in the sport. He provided a reason, season after season, for father and son to sit with one another for a few hours, spellbound by his play.
“Larry Legend” reminded us what was great about the spirit of sport, the soul of an athlete. More so, he embodied the blue collar and self-reliant spirit that is New England and Maine. In that way he was perfect. Everything else about him was less than perfect. The Bird was hardly poetic with the grace of his play; to the contrary, he was a blue collar player. He was hard work and hustle. Bird would say about his philosophy, "Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds." ... Sport is like politics in this regard. Specifically, sport is like fundraising. Let me explain…
As any political outsider would, I approached the fundraising portion of this endeavor rather skeptically. One political professional suggested to me that fundraising is a good political barometer. Why? Because it allows people to gauge a candidate's energy, will and ability to organize. Basically, he said, fundraising requires many of the same skills needed to be an effective congressman. In other words, fundraising numbers show us how hard a congressional candidate is willing to work and that work translates to viability. Consider the number of donors required to raise $100,000. Then consider how long you have to speak to each of those donors. One donor, a self-described liberal Democrat, berated me on the issues for an hour only to close by saying, "Dean, I may disagree with you, but you are doing this for all the right reasons. Who do I make the check out to?" Another contributor, a Republican, shared with me his sense of apathy and pessimism about the up coming election cycle, only to conclude by saying, "Dean, you've made me believe it's possible."
Fundraising in Maine's 1st Congressional District cannot be considered in the same context as presidential fundraising with their millions upon millions of dollars. Those folks have trained professionals with all the lists, resources and technology to generate those numbers. More so, my effort cannot be considered in the context of other Republican candidates in Maine's 1st CD. I have never done this before. To the contrary, as an outsider I had very little experience at this. I had no pre-existing information from prior races. My donor list was built from the ground up. In the meantime, I have maintained my day job, have been a husband, a father, etc. Each dime we raised was done with hard work and hustle. It should be considered in that context. Simple math on the number of donors and funds raised will indicate just how hard we had to hustle.
I worked hard for each individual contribution. I got others involved. I pushed and I pushed until the buzzer. I took a bit of heat from some for pushing them so hard. Larry Bird would also say, "Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It's being able to take it as well as dish it out. That's the only way you're going to get respect from the players." I'd like to think that's how we did this. Thanks, Larry.
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