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11 February 2007 to 7 March 2007
deadline for potential candidates to register out of other parties to run in 3 June 2008 P&F primary
13 November 2007 to 8 December 2007
deadline for potential candidates to be registered as Peace & Freedom to run in 3 June 2008 P&F primary

  

P&F 2006 Campaign News Coverage

From the 26 April 2006 Marysville Appeal-Democrat, original version no longer available there:

He's running for Assembly

By Howard Yune/Appeal-Democrat

Jesse Drury/Appeal-Democrat

Assembly candidate Phil Dynan stopped running long enough for an interview Tuesday. He’s an artist, writer and Army veteran.

There was no lectern, no television camera, no army of bodyguards for this political candidate. The electoral hopeful who arrived Tuesday in Marysville was a lanky, bearded runner clad in shorts and a T-shirt, equipped only with running shoes, a red notebook and an inquiring mind.

Tuesday marked Phil Dynan's eighth day on the campaign trail - a literal trail for the 57-year-old Corning resident, a minor-party contestant for the 2nd District Assembly seat held by Republican Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale.

In place of the usual airplane flights and car trips for Dynan are thousands of footsteps, adding up to 275 miles in six weeks.

Along the way, the Peace and Freedom Party candidate finds himself talking less and listening more than he imagined. People on the route, he said, have buttonholed him to discuss whatever issue consumes them: the Iraq war, soaring gasoline prices, immigration policy.

"A few people said, ‘I'm comfortable; I don't have any issues,'" Dynan, an artist, writer and U.S. Army veteran, said during a stopover outside the Appeal-Democrat newsroom. "That's nice - for them," he quickly added with a wry smile.

An avid distance runner who has participated in more than 50 marathons, Dynan is meeting the electorate in a very direct way: by jogging through every corner of the 2nd District, which includes parts of Sutter and Colusa counties. "Short days" of three to seven miles alternate with jaunts of 15 miles or more, a tall enough task even though he drives home each evening.

Though elected office is new to Dynan, distance running is not. Even his two-legged tour of the district, which began April 18 in Esparto, pales in comparison to a monthlong, 1,000-mile New York-to-Ohio journey he made some 25 years ago to raise money for a wildlife refuge.

For Dynan, any publicity for his campaign and his views is welcome - an unorthodox strategy for a man supporting an unorthodox brew of troop withdrawals from the Middle East, national health care and voting by proportional representation. Taking his message directly to citizens, he declared, is giving him a unique look at voters' personal concerns, unfiltered by influential people and partisan jousting.

"I talk to the girl who serves coffee at the drive-in window, the state workers on their break on the river," he said, quickly catching his breath from the morning's run. "It's a different perspective; I get to talk with ordinary people instead of rich people with an agenda." Already, half his notebook was filled with the names of onlookers and their scribbled questions and opinions; he estimated about 100 people had encountered him during the first week.

Despite being a left-wing candidate crossing through solidly Republican turf, Dynan praised most people who have met him on his run for being thoughtful rather than stridently partisan. Still, he said, cynicism about politicians runs so deep that a few onlookers have literally backed away from him.

"I'm surprised how hesitant, even fearful, people are when you say that you're running for office," he said. "I was taken aback at first, especially in the small towns. Soon as they know I'm running for state Assembly, it's like, ‘Oh no, I don't want to sign anything, I don't want to see anything!'"

With 39 towns left on his campaign trail, Dynan began striding back through Marysville, loped north toward Live Oak and was gone.

Appeal-Democrat reporter Howard Yune can be reached at 749-4708. You may e-mail him at hyune@appeal-democrat.com.

  

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