Race for the Robe by Candyce Abbatt: My Mom's Running for Judge

In 2008 I ran for District Court Judge in the town I grew up in--Dearborn, Michigan.  It was a close race against a controversial chief judge.  Election night was a real nail biter--one half of one percent or a difference of a little more than one hundred votes!  Not bad for political amateurs?  2012 is another presidential year.  This election promises again to be a hot one.  Last time I kept a journal, but it never made its way from "My Documents."  It would have made for an interesting reality show. 

Total neophytes, we walked the streets, knocked door to door, and manuevered a cargo van with over 250,000 miles on the odometer--all over town.  If you really want to irritate teenagers, make them drive a van with their mom's picture on the side. Better yet, have their mother looming on a billboard overlooking the main route to their high school.  Innumerable community dinners, football games (Go Tractors), debates, parades, and a gigantic local fair called "Homecoming" left us with spectacular memories. We even had a recount.  In the end we had a blast.  Life moved on.

Often the subject of national attention, Dearborn's one of the most unique and diverse towns in the United States. The hometown of Henry Ford, the city's a combination of traditional conservative values, labor unions, Eastern European/Middle Eastern culture with some funky creative types thrown in.  I just wouldn't live anywhere else.  My proper English husband Bill came here through the Ford College graduate program over thirty years ago then put himself through law school at night.  He's loyal to the community that welcomed him from overseas and gave him a properous life.  Seems alot of folks feel that way around here. Yet, Bill never quite got American politics. but he's hung in there with me on this intense journey, through thick and thin. 

I studied political science in preparation for law school.  My favorite class was Bernie Klein's "Urban Politics."  Little did I know my family and I would be living it.  Wish I'd taken better notes. 

All politics are local?  Oh yes!  Dearborn's old school politics at its finest, and we are smack dab in the middle.  {gulp}

Just last week, my campaign phone number was hi-jacked by some  techno devil using a devious device called a "Snoop Card."  I'd seen some jilted lovers in my practice use them to get the former squeeze to pick up the phone, but this was a brand new twist.  Fortunately, Dearborn's finest are quite knowledgeable in this regard and the miscreant will soom be hoisted by his fiber optic pittard.  More on that later.

This blog isn't about positions, it's about the process.  It's an opportunity for folks to see the political process from one family's perspective. 

The primary's August 7th, so stay tuned!