This past Saturday, my wife Kay and I completed our first door-to-door campaign walk. It was with a bit of trepidation that we began the task and Kay selected an older neighborhood in Norton Shores in which to begin. We brought along the palm cards to hand out and also stickers that said, “Sorry I missed you…Ken”, for the homes where a resident did not answer the door.

We walked on the same side of the street and alternated houses as we went up and down the streets. In my heart, I didn’t want to bother people, especially on a sunny and quiet Saturday. I found however, that the vast majority of residents were cordial and that they didn’t seem bothered by my visit. Kay and I had a couple of longer conversations, but most discussions were no longer than the time it took to introduce ourselves and hand them a card.

About ½ of the residents were not home and we had only one person who didn’t want us near his home. So, the experience was better than I feared and we got to about 100 homes in 3 hours. I still prefer events/occasions where citizens expect the candidate to speak with them instead of the unsolicited home visits but the door-to-door visits are important and must continue. Face-to-face interactions are one of the best ways for a candidate to make a favorable impact upon a potential voter. So it appears that the neighborhood walks will be continuing for the foreseeable future.