It’s amazing what I’ve learned since filing the petitions to become an “official” candidate. I’ve passed from my serene pastoral life into a realm where suddenly others know more about me than I do!

One blogger posted: “I don’t know very much about the other 6 GOP candidates. But one of them is a real wingnut. Keith Richardson is a Baptist pastor with a law degree, and considers Rick Santorum his political role model. The website … is pretty flashy. He also has some connections to the right-wing Commonwealth Foundation.”

I’m flattered, of course, by the association to Rick Santorum and the Commonwealth Foundation. But since neither are mentioned on my website and I’ve never spoken with the blogger, I have to wonder how he knows who my political role models are and which “right-wing” organizations I am connected to. Oh well, we wouldn’t want something as trivial as truth to interfere with a good blog, now would we?

Another blogger, despite finding my views “too far to the right” for his tastes, was considerably fairer. He didn’t think the website was flashy at all. In fact, he wrote, “I can’t help but find the ‘candidate at the kitchen table’ bit to be a little tired and cliché. I can see the efforts that were made with the flannel shirt and non-flashy video, but a little more visual stimulation would not have been out of place.”

I sent him an e-mail thanking him for his fairness, but explaining that the flannel shirt and the kitchen table were not staging. For good or for ill … that’s just me. Ask any of the college students here who love to poke fun at my “lumberjack look.”

Well, it’s all a bit humorous, isn’t it? Which points out something you should know—I’m enjoying this. Campaigning is a lot of work. It’s new to me. I’m well outside of my comfort zone. But I’m happy to be a political outsider. I’m happy to be meeting so many new people. And I’m certainly happy to be secure enough in my identity that I don’t need a blogger to tell me who I really am, nor any polls to tell me what I really think.

Would you like to talk about what I really think? How about signing up to host a TableTalks. I would love to meet you, too. That’s the very best part of this new direction.