My conversation with Nick DiCeglie continues....
"The
demographics are changing here in Pinellas County. The Hispanic and Asian
populations are growing and overall the average age is dropping. What
approaches will you take to reach these emerging voters, and have them
represented in the Republican Party Pinellas County organization?" I asked.
"What’s so important and we saw it in the Senate
races, we need to have good, solid, qualified, viable candidates that can
articulate our message and our platform," Nick replied.
"And take that a step further, we must have the ability
to identify where they should go when they’re on the campaign trail to connect
with various minority voters like Hispanic voters, African-American voters and
Asian voters. We must connect with them
in their communities. Senator Rand Paul
is doing an outstanding job in this regard.
Let's look at what Rick Baker did. When he first got
elected, and correct me if I am wrong, but I think he had very little
African-American support the first time he ran.
But when he ran for reelection, because he went to
those communities, his support wasn’t 51% it was well over the 75% level of
support because he took the time and the energy to go into those communities
and listened to find out what would be needed, what were their issues and he
took action on their behalf to improve their communities.
To me, that’s s an example we can certainly follow and
try to replicate because it was sincere and it worked. It worked to perfection
and that’s one reason why Rick Baker is such a great leader."
"What role
or to what extent does the County organization or the Executive Committee play
in selecting candidates or setting up who is going to run? I asked.
"Great question, in the last two years we haven’t
had had a major role in identifying potential candidates, so I'm looking
forward to that process.
I feel I’ve got a lot of community connections from the
years of me being extremely involved, so for example, I have a very good friend
who’s involved in St. Pete politics and knows the people involved. He’s a great professional, really
knowledgeable about who’s who and what’s what in St. Petersburg politics and
will be a great asset to help us identify quality, viable conservative
candidates to run for these important offices.
I would like to have representatives like that and a
connection to each of the municipalities so that we can identify as a Party who
are the leaders in these different communities. Who are the young people moving
through the ranks? Who are the people that have been involved for a long time
who understand the various ins and outs of the communities where they live.
That can equate to strong candidates for the County Commission,
constitutional officers, State House and Senate races.
I think having those connections in the community is
having a pulse of what's going on. It's going to help us, as a Party, find
quality candidates that are going to be able to articulate our Republican
platform.
It's about the quality of the candidate that really
makes a difference.”
"With the
voting population almost evenly divided in Pinellas County how will you go
about reaching out to the undecided and non party affiliated voters?" I asked.
"Face to face communication is vital," Nick
replied.
"Certainly I am going to encourage not only our
Executive Board but the Executive Committee as a whole to get involved. Get
into Rotary Clubs, get into the various community service clubs, speak with
your neighbors and fellow church parishioners and send the positive Republican
message.
Doing that over time, doing that sincerely and doing it
consistently, having a consistent message is the key. I think that approach
begins to evolve to the point where people say I know John Doe or Sue Ann and
they're involved in the Republican Party and I want to get involved too. They are making a difference.
It is not what we see on TV. I think Republicans have a
perception issue due to the media painting a negative picture of our
party. If we want to change this
perception, taking whole bunch of money and throwing it at the problem will never
get to the root or the core of the problem.
It is going to take one on one relationship building
and cultivating those relationships over a long period of time. The rest will take care of itself."
In the next
Post, Nick talks about early voting and its affect on the campaign process,
social media, how national politics will impact local races, and how his family
feels about his expanding role in local politics.
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