Sept. 18, 2010, was the end of my first run for the state House, District 24. As a first-time candidate, I learned many lessons that I wish to share with other community members who may have political aspirations.

First and foremost, if you are running against an incumbent, be prepared to raise more money than you think you need, spend every waking hour running for office — not to mention dreaming about it — and working longer and harder than your opponent. Try to gain an early advantage. It is imperative that you file candidacy papers as early as possible. Waiting until July 7 as I did, or the filing deadline of 11 weeks before the primary election, is one indication that you have no clue what you are in for.

To get a campaign up and running against an incumbent, you have to live, breathe, walk, talk and sleep the campaign — filing nomination papers, completing questionnaires, going to community events and other organizational meetings, putting together a campaign committee, coercing a friend or relative to act as campaign chairperson, raising money, designing and ordering signs and banners, preparing handouts and mailers, fundraising, sign-waving; the process becomes a full-time, seven-days-a-week job. Forget your family, friends, co-workers and community; forget how much your feet and back hurt. Get your game face on, hold up that sign and get good shoes!

In other words, it’s David vs. Goliath. It is war. Incumbents have a huge advantage that is very hard to overcome: war chests of donations received while in office and from previous campaigns; they were able to send out mailers to the voting community during the previous term; they have signs from previous elections ready; they have name recognition; and, most important, they have public sentiment supporting them. Incumbents also know what type of mailers to send, and the timing of sending them. They have a listing of endorsements ready, volunteers at their disposal, and supporters prepared to canvass and sign-wave. If you are a ground-roots candidate, you are lucky to even have a campaign accountant.

As for endorsements, be prepared for a shock. Most unions have already endorsed the Democratic incumbent even before you, as a Democrat, enter the race. That’s right: HSTA, ILWU, the Teamsters, HGEA, to name a few, have already endorsed your Democratic competition. The big political action committees and other unions ignore you. You may want to check your opponent’s filings with the Campaign Spending Commission to determine who his or her supporters are. If you see lots of PAC and union donations, you are in trouble even before you start. It would be nice if these organizations would at least give you a chance to win their support, but the answer is a resounding, "NO." You may want to rethink running that year and wait until the incumbent runs for another office, is term limited, or finally retires — and this could be years in the future.

If you still choose to go forward, there’s a small ray of hope. Many smaller organizations, such as the Sierra Club, Progressive Democrats, church organizations, women’s rights groups, gay rights groups and the local newspaper will mail you questionnaires to complete and return. However, I found it unsettling that some organizations will actually tell you what to write on their questionnaire for their endorsement — so if you "white" lie, you can collect quite a few of these endorsements. However, I believe most candidates are like me and answer these questionnaires honestly. Or at least I would like to think so.

Another positive for a newcomer is that there are actually some organizations that spend the time and effort in speaking with candidates, reviewing their mailers, websites and published articles for a complete picture before endorsing. I was very lucky to have three such endorsements during my campaign: the Woman’s Political Caucus, LGBT and the Hawaii Venture Capital Association.

So, remember future politician, running for public office in Hawaii is filled with bumps and curves. Be prepared to make mistakes and for failure. As my dad reminded me the morning after my loss, Frank Fasi ran four times before he won. Do I have the perseverance to do the same? Only time will tell — or maybe the retirement of my district’s state senator.