You know, I’ve been sitting here thinking about it for the past hour (ever since I first saw the Capitol Annex post on its essay request), and I’ve decided… I’m having my own essay “contest”. It’s not just for CD-28, though. Here you go:

• This contest is open to any candidate (incumbent, or otherwise) for any office in the State of Texas (including county and city seats).
• Candidates must submit a 100 word (minimum) essay to fyre@fyreplace.com, explaining why they are the best choice for voters in their particular race.
• Essays must be written by the candidates and not by a staffer. The candidate must place the following statement as the last line of the essay: “I am [candidate name], and I wrote the above piece.” Any essay not containing that line will not be published.
• The deadline for essays is March 31st, 2006. This gives a full month.

Here are the benefits for doing this:

• Exposure: Each individual essay will be posted to this blog, unmodified, in a seperate entry.
• Double-Exposure: Due to this blogs affiliation with the Texas Progressive Alliance, said essays may be re-posted to other Texas political blogs.
• Triple-Exposure: All essays will be tagged with technorati tags appropriate to the candidate, race, and topics, thus allowing technorati searchers the opportunity to find said essay.
• You’ll Feel Good About Yourself: You’ll be helping a small, struggling, just-started political blog make a name for itsself in the Texas political spectrum.

There you go, folks. Sure, it’s a fairly shameless attempt to draw more attention and traffic to this blog, but it also gives all candidates a chance to speak out. Additionally, I am not requiring e-mail silence on this one. Feel free to e-mail your favorite candidate and let them know. I do, however, request that if you e-mail one candidate, you also e-mail their opposition - just to keep it fair.

Technorati Tags: essay contest, state of texas, political essay

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