I'll Be Radio Silent For a Little While

 

     Those of you who'd read my article yesterday may have noticed a brief mention of an interview of a Congressional candidate that I have been trying to line up since last month. Since I heard from her early this morning through her campaign's email address, I can state that I'm interviewing Barbie Harden Hall, who's running for Daniel Webster's seat (that used to belong to Alan Grayson) out of Florida 11.

     Barbie and I follow each other on Twitter and we've been playing DM tag since July once I got the idea to interview her for this blog. She was immediately receptive to the idea and the hectic pace of her campaign is the only reason why it's even taken this long to establish  the parameters of the interview.

     Those of you who've been reading me for years may remember the monthly interviews I did with authors until Barbara's illness got to the point where I could no longer set aside the time and energy for them. But this is hopefully the first of several interviews that I plan to do with Congressional candidates between now and November. I've reached out to others but Harden-Hall is the only one who's agreed to an email interview.

     Since I'm the most comfortable with it, I'm going to stick with the same format with which I'd conducted the Author of the Month interviews- 15 questions, all out of the box with very little little if any editing. And, as with the author interviews, I need to take the time to do the requisite research on my subject, learn about her policy positions, her platform, etc. I want to write her appropriate and probing questions that will familiarize her constituents and voters to her goals and ambitions. Yet, even though my research is just beginning, I will say this:

     Even though I'm in Arizona, about 3100 miles from her district, I believe in Harden Hall's candidacy. Just as Webster has long stood for his conservative beliefs, Harden Hall is at least as passionate about her progressive beliefs. She believes in sensible gun control, protecting Social Security and Medicare for seniors, etc. But it's her core issue in her candidacy that made me realize during my preliminary research that there's a real human interest story behind the campaign posters and flyers. Not only that, but a very deeply personal reason why she's running for office against a Republican barnacle in what's already been established as one of the most dysfunctional congresses of all time.

     I don't want to spill too many of the beans until the interview goes live, which, hopefully will be sometime this week. But, suffice to say it changed the entire structure and focus of the interview even though I've barely begun writing it.

     And I want to get each question right and maybe elevate awareness of her campaign within her own district. That's why I need to focus all my time, energy and concentration on this interview, the first one of its kind I've ever done.