Well, the Democratic 114th Assembly District convention in Connecticut is over and I'm the Democratic nominee. Its almost time for bed, but I want to share a few thoughts before I crash . The past few days have been a slow crescendo of excitement, building up to the convention. Now, the convention is over, and I look to the five months ahead. I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Over the past few weeks, there have been discussions about who would run as a Democrat in the 114th district. When no one else accepted the task, I stood up. It is important that there we don't have uncontested seats, and I do think I've got something important to say.

Around twenty-five people showed up for the convention. I would have liked more, but it happened on very short notice and I don't have a campaign fully set up yet. I was very pleased with the comments that my friends made when they nominated me and seconded the nomination. It was my first time giving my stump speech, and people said it was good. I'm glad I got a chance to deliver it to a friendly audience, but I need a lot more work on it.

You can read my speech, as prepared for delivery here.

With my late start, now I have to raise $5000 in donations from five to a hundred dollars. At least 150 of the donors need to come from the town of Woodbridge, Orange, and Derby. It is going to be a lot of work to raise this money, and fundraising has never been my strong suit. There were a few donations, mostly small, which was good.

Then, there is the issue of getting to know all the people in Woodbridge, Orange and Derby that I need to ask to vote for me. That is going to be a challenge as well. Yet this is one of the things that can make the campaign a lot of fun. I need to go to as many civic events as possible. They should be fun and already Fiona is speaking excitedly about some of them. I hope it will give me good material to blog about.

Most importantly, my goal is to encourage others to get more involved in their communities. At least one person at the event had never been to a political convention before, and introducing them to this world is one of the early small victories. I hope to have many more like this over the coming months.

But now, it is time for bed. Tomorrow, I'll see what is online. I'll talk to more reporters, and resume the long trek to November. Wish me luck everyone