All politics is local?
 

I actually vowed to stay away from the Politics board because my professional/personal life revolve around all things political, but for some reason I just can't stay away. Masochism, perhaps? :-P

Anyhow, I was wondering--how many of you consider yourself involved/informed in on local/state/provincial politics?

For me, I'd have to answer in the affirmative. I'm really involved with local/state politics...I've met most of my elected officials, many of them know me by name, and I keep track of what's going through my city counsel and state legislature. I've volunteered for mayoral races, state legislative races, Congressional races, Senate races, gubernatorial races. I read a handful of local blogs on top of my national news consumption. Perhaps this makes me a dork...;)

So? What about you?

Love,
Sabrina

not too much, but I've only lived here for 9 months. I did a little research on the 6 "Prop" votes on the ballot and keep track of school board decisions.

I spent four years as a lobbyist for state and local governments (for two of the big 7 state/local interest groups) before it burnt me out.

I still have great appreciation for the men and women who serve at the state/local level and I'm still connected with many on both a personal and professional level.

it depends. i think alot about systems and relations between them, so tend to gather alot of information about transnational stuff. this is more the looking and sorting and processing phase. when i find myself in activist mode, i get much more involved with local political matters. lately, i've been doing other stuff, so am more in the former.

btw welcome to the curious world of politics here.
it's not so bad.
sometimes it's even interesting.

I find that I am very interested in local politics. We've got a City Council election going on at the moment, a bond issue up for consideration, and two County Commissioner seats up. Statewide there are a myriad of things to vote on--Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Attorney General, my state representative is up unopposed, and the Bureau of Labor and Industries director are (were? I already voted) up on the ballot, as well as several measures: Oregon 2008 ballot measures - Ballotpedia

I'm also following the governor's race in Washington State very closely, as that's another race that could have an impact on my family and extended family up there; both my father and uncle work for the State of Washington in some capacity.

I've been interested in local politics for quite a while; I have fond memories of a school board candidate's victory party when I was 10 (1992) that was also the victory party of the local state representative, the school board candidate's mother. My mom and I had volunteered for the school board candidate's campaign together.

I think it's important to be familiar with local politics as it can have a direct effect on your life.

The biggest impact they have is tax rates. Schools are also a local issue.

More than that. The candidates in my district have an impact on if another project gets approved to divert more water east of the continental divide (less water flowing to the Colorado River).

They have the ability to propose increased taxes for companies drilling for natural gas, and attempting to extract oil shale.

They can use funds to repair bridges, or build bike paths. They can approve new subdivisions, or restrict growth in a town/county so much that no one wants to move in and housing prices skyrocket that the average worker cannot afford to live and work in the same county. They can affect public transportation.

I actually care more about my local politicians then my national politicians. What the local politicians do will directly affect my daily life.

While working on my district's Congressional campaign this election, I coordinated with a number of the local campaigns as well. Before this, I didn't pay particular attention to the local candidates, but now I'm quite aware of them. It also makes it that much worse knowing that the candidates I coordinated with lost to a 2004 Alan Keyes supporter (when he ran against Obama for Senate) and an anti-stem cell research, pro-life, super-Christian.

It just goes to show how ill-informed many voters are. My district voted overwhelmingly for Obama (and voted for Kerry in 2004), but in the rest of the races they re-elected crazy, sleazy, or just plain ineffectual representatives who have done little else other than take credit for the successes of others.