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Election 2014: Neel Kashkari releases 12-page document reflecting on his loss to Gov. Jerry Brown
Republican Neel Kashkari
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Benjamin Brayfield/KPCC
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California Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Neel Kashkari greets supporters during an election night party at the Port Theater on Tuesday, June 3, 2014, in the Corona Del Mar area of Newport Beach.
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Chris Carlson/AP
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A supporters break apart a toy train with Republican gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari.
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Alice Walton/KPCC
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It didn’t take long for Republican Neel Kashkari to reflect on his loss to Gov. Jerry Brown. He started before Election Day.
That’s according to a 12-page document Kashkari released Wednesday titled “Lessons from the Trail.”
“I didn’t appreciate how important and how hard it would be to develop name recognition in a state of 38 million people — while running against an incumbent who has universal name ID,” Kashkari wrote.
In addition to being an unfamiliar name and face for voters — many still didn't know who he was on Election Day — Kashkari also had trouble raising enough money to compete.
Republicans Ashley Swearengin and Pete Peterson complained of the same problem as a reason for their losess in controller and secretary of state races, respectively.
“I understand many donors’ reluctance to take on the most famous politician in California, Jerry Brown, but at a minimum we need to be willing to fund strong Republican candidates in open seats, especially against little-known opponents; it doesn’t get any easier than these races,” Kashkari wrote.
Kashkari also said he discovered the limits of Facebook and Twitter.
“The best advice I received about social media proved to be exactly right: Social media is like the sail of a sailboat. It is designed to catch the wind — but it is up to the candidate to generate the wind,” he wrote.
Read the full document below:
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