Stan speaks out.

• Author: Levco, Stan
• Position: Blogs influence on one's opinion

FOR THOSE WHO READ MY LAST COLUMN discussing the perils of running for election and are wondering how I did; I have two words which sum up the result: Tsunami and Democrat. (In the previous sentence, "and" does not count as a word.)

I should have seen it coming but I ignored the warning signs.

If I had listened more carefully to the responses, going door to door should have convinced me what was about to happen.

I am not a natural door-to-door kind of guy. I rarely began an outing thinking, "I can't wait to get out there, so I can disturb a bunch of strangers to tell them I'd appreciate their vote."

But once I started knocking it wasn't so bad, other than the fact the most common response I received was, "Sorry, I'm voting Republican." Someone without blinders on might have taken that as a hint that I was about to be buried in a Republican landslide. But I just blithely continued marveling at how amazing it was that the only people who opened the door just happened to be Republicans.

One of my most interesting encounters had nothing to do with my political affiliation. One time, a couple of barking dogs called my attention to a potential voter in a fenced yard across the street. I approached the woman, handed her a brochure from over the fence and said, "I'm Stan Levco. I'd appreciate your vote in November."

She stared coldly and said, "I know who you are," paused a moment and concluded, "I know exactly who you are."

In that millisecond, I understood the enormous difference between someone knowing who I was and someone knowing "exactly" who I was. I quickly made my way back across the street, but I could hear her say to her barking dogs, who also seemed to know exactly who I was, "You don't like Mr. Levco, do you?"

The blogs should have been another clue about what was to happen. I first became aware of blogs during the previous election when even a routine newspaper article about me would unleash a torrent of vicious criticism of me, both personal and professional. Some of it was even untrue.

So when it happened again this election, I didn't think it was cause for concern. My strategy...