One of our campaign staffers suggested yesterday that I give you an update on our campaign. I thought that was a funny request. I read a lot of notes from other candidates, and they’re ALWAYS about their campaign. Whereas our notes are almost always about what is happening in the world, and rarely about our campaign.

The reason, very simply, is this: the world is more interesting.

Also, the world is more important. Clean elections, fixing the economy, saving the middle class, preserving Social Security, ending the wars – all of these things are waaaaaaaay more important than whether I am reelected to Congress.

Notwithstanding that, since I have asked for your support for our campaign, then from time to time, I’ll tell you how things are going. Without making a fetish out of it.

First, since I decided to run again in July, I have been very pleasantly surprised by the reactions of people here in Orlando. Practically every time I leave the house, I get all sorts of encouragement and support.

Yesterday, one person went beyond that. She asked me for my autograph.

And, interestingly enough, party affiliation and ideology seem to make no difference. Even some of the local teabaggers have said to me, “I disagreed with you, but at least you worked hard, and you got things done. Plus you say what you think, so I know where you stand.”

(My wife, who can be a bit tart, had this to say about the local teabaggers: “They’re all a bunch of losers. You lost, so now they think you’re one of them.”)

Second, I am extremely gratified that so many people take the time to read these communiqués, and participate in all sorts of ways. Like the 100,000+ people who signed our petition at www.No-Cuts.com, or the 10,000 people who have contributed to our campaign in just the last two months alone. Plus each and every person who sends us a letter, or an e-mail, or a Facebook note. For goodness sake, there were more than 10,000 people who submitted written comments to the Huffington Post regarding my observations on the Republican Presidential debates.

And it’s a two-way street. In many cases, you listen to me because you know that I’m listening to you. So many people have told me this: “Alan, you are saying what I’ve been thinking, but nobody else is saying.”

Let’s face it: most Congressional campaigns auction off the law to the highest bidder, in little pieces. This campaign isn’t like that at all. This is a People Power campaign.

And so I have to say, 2½ months into this campaign, that things are going very well. Not because of me. Because of you, and people like you.

Courage,

Alan Grayson