When I decided to run for office, I was faced with a difficult decision on how to overcome - right out of the gate - the deck that was stacked against me in one of the reddest states in the country.

I tried to find a way to connect elections with things people deal with in their everyday lives.

In my announcement speech, I talked about how elections are basically job performance reviews for the incumbent and job applications for the challenger. We’ve pretty much all had to go through both. But in politics, it’s the people running for office who try to set the review parameters, whereas in the real world of work or school, it’s the company or teacher who determines what matters.

So what’s the problem?

Seems to me that the skills needed to get elected in the modern age of politics are not necessarily the skills needed to govern; in fact, in many cases, they are the exact opposite. Simple slogans are catchy but they won’t solve any of our country’s problems or issues. Negative campaigning and tearing down your opponent may be effective, but it’s counterproductive when an elected official needs to build a coalition to pass a law. Slick 30-second TV ads and social media videos look great and might catch a voter’s short attention span, but they don’t work when one needs to try and figure out all the dynamics of a complex negotiation within Congress or with other parties.

Let’s just say there is little – if any – overlap in the Venn Diagram of campaigning skills vs. governing skills.

The only real defense we have? Accountability.

Let’s be clear. Holding one’s opponent and elected officials accountable is NOT negative campaigning (although people who are being held accountable will try to define it as such).

We, as voters, must take the time as their bosses to do a thorough job interview for new candidates and a job performance review for incumbents when election time comes around.

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I was reminded of this when I came across the candidacy of Rob Sand. He is currently State Auditor in Iowa and he is running for Governor in what has become a reliably red state.

His main campaign theme right out of the gate? Accountability. You can see his “Accountability For All” platform HERE (damn, he looks… young 😬). I’ll highlight a few key provisions:

I believe he has hit on something that resonates. Let’s face it, in a - sadly - uninformed and ignorant way, Trump was elected based on an ersatz form of accountability. Things are basically not working out for most people in our country right now. Being the good con man that he is, Trump was able to convince low-info voters that they should hold Biden and Democrats accountable for their woes.

And it worked.

Iran notwithstanding, I still believe this election will come down to the economy AND voters’ collective view that the Epstein Class, billionaires and other “elites” (which, in the eyes of most people, includes members of congress) do not play by the same rules as the rest of us. They are not held accountable.

Do I agree with all of Sands accountability metrics and ideas? No. By now, I hope readers know that I am an “anti-purity” person - candidates need to be able to do what they need to do in their districts without being held to unelectable policy ideas put forth by people who have never been in the arena.

So I am not going to quibble on the details at this point (one of the biggest traps we Dems and progressives fall into: quibbling about the details when most voters only want to feel as if they are being valued and heard). IMHO, showing serious intent about accountability will go a long way towards achieving a candidate’s goal of getting inside voters’ “Circle of Trust^TM”.

I really don’t know much more about Rob Sand at this point. I’m just hoping he keeps his focus on accountability, and that he can serve as an example for other Dem candidates (especially those in difficult districts).