What We Can Learn from NY's Primary Election

I voted in NY's primary election today.  I'm embarassed to admit this, but I knew very little about who was running.  I didn't even recognize one of the three people running to be the Democratic candidate for mayor! (Good job basically locking that one up, Mr. Bloomberg.)

But there's some interesting lessons here:

For comptroller I voted for someone because a friend of mine emailed me with a personal endorsement.  What's interesting about this is that I was planning to vote for someone else who I actually had heard of and had run a cool TV ad.  But ultimately the personal endorsement of my friend -- who is also very involved with NY poltics, so I trust his opinion on this specifically -- won out over name recognition and a slick ad.

Do your fans endorse you?

For City Council I voted for the woman who's flyer was handed to me as I walked into the polling place.  I figured if she could mobilize people on the ground and inspire them to stand on a corner holding a sign and handing out flyers then she must be pretty good.

Are you mobilizing fans?  Are you in front of prospective customers at the exact right moment when they are making a decision?