Campaign Diary: Day 9 - I have a Candidate Manager

Whilst you have to have an agent to take care of the technical and legal stuff, and I'm lucky enough to have a very good one in Martin Redbond, it also helps to have someone to manage the candidate. That isn't to, say, tell them what to do, but instead to ensure that the candidate's time is used efficiently. And that's where Ros comes in.

Ros has, of course, done this before. She probably has the t-shirt somewhere to prove it, and knows what needs to be done. As the candidate, there is a danger in having so many tasks to juggle that you either lose track of some or all of them in the whirlwind that is a short campaign, or you risk being overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the enterprise.

Ros has firmly suggested that a diary is necessary, and written a fairly detailed plan of what might happen when, so as to ensure that everything that could be done actually happens, and that has taken a lot of weight off of my shoulders, allowing me to keep campaigning. She has also taken on some of the organizing tasks, making sure that the leaflets go out, as well as joining me on the doorstep in Offton and Barking.

And it's also been a help on the doorstep to introduce myself as Ros's husband, as she is clearly still remembered by local residents from her three terms as their County Councillor. I never cease to me amazed by the number of people who have worked with her on some project or another, or who tell me that they voted for her. I can only aspire to be as good as she was, if I do win on 2 June.