While in Temple this week to guest-host a radio show, I had the opportunity to meet Michael Pearce. Hopefully you’ll get to know him, too. A Marine veteran and former classroom teacher, Pearce is running for the open House District 55 seat in the Texas Legislature. Not only does he appear to be right on the issues, he is running a campaign in the right way.
While the EmpowerTexans PAC won’t be making endorsements for the 2008 primaries and general election until after the early-January filing deadline, Michael Pearce has all the markings of the kind of candidate conservatives are looking to support.
He’s already set-up a basic website, www.voteforpearce.com.
As we ate lunch and talked politics, Pearce demonstrated that he understands right thinking has to be married to right action. You never get the chance to implement your good ideas if you aren’t first willing to do the hard work.
This race won’t be a cake-walk for Pearce. At least two other candidates are going to be putting their hats in the ring.
A former precinct chair and election judge, Pearce has worked the field at its most basic level. At a time when a lot of potential candidates are still trying to decide if they want a website or not, Pearce is spending the Fall talking to activists, meeting with voters and getting around the district. That shows both his commitment to the process, and his conviction about the powers of the ideas he supports.
Too many people seeking office view themselves as strategists working a campaign from a thousand miles away in an ivory tower. But I got the feeling this Marine likes being in the trenches.
After serving his country as a Marine, promoting academic excellence in students and earning the respect of parents (while bucking administrators in the process), Michael Pearce is one man who has earned the title “The Honorable” long before he ever takes public office.
