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How do I know if running for office is right for me?

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Ron Faucheux: I am Ron Faucheux. I wrote a book titled "Running for Office" and I teach Political Campaign Management in Running for Office at The Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. We have been talking about what it takes to be a political candidate and now, we will focus on the pressures that it takes to run for a office.

Host: How do I know if running for office is for me?

Ron Faucheux: It's an important decision to make before you run for office, whether running for office is really for you or not. You have really need to look before you leap. You have really need to have some realistic sense of what it takes to wage a political campaign; what it takes to win a political campaign and then the efforts that you have to put into the public office once you are elected to serve. So you have to be very sure of that. It's not for everybody; it's a tough process to go through. It can be very difficult, you call names; it's a very hard work. You have a lot of pressures on you to raise money and to reach out and to constantly work in campaign and do things that are often times not very easy to do and if you are not prepared to walk into that with your eyes wide open, knowing the kind of efforts going to take, it maybe very difficult to actually perform as a good political candidate.

Expert: Ron Faucheux

Ron Faucheux is one of America's top political and public affairs analysts. Contributor-at-Large for Campaigns & Elections magazine - a nonpartisan publication he previously published and edited - he writes a column on politics and public opinion. Currently head of government affairs for the American Institute of Architects, Dr. Faucheux is a former state legislator and cabinet secretary. He's the author More »