As I often tell people, as dirty as you think politics is, it is actually much, much worse, and partisan primaries are the murkiest of all the cesspools. Some of the most underhanded and nastiest stunts I’ve ever seen occurred in races among fellow Democrats. It can get ugly. No one is off-limits, and even the smallest mistakes, in the beginning, can turn into enormous headaches in the future. So if Moses had etched the ten commandments of politics on a slab of marble, the first commandment should read, “Don’t Be An Amateur. Hire Professionals.”

At the end of the day, over 80% of the money candidates need to adequately fund their campaigns and be competitive will generate from call time. A candidate who is not committed to being on the phone for hours a day calling whichever person appears on the sheet in front of them is not taking the campaign seriously.