The danger in starting a more local-level campaign early is that you might end up making a lot of noise to no effect. If one says “I’m running,” one wants voters to care, and it can look pretty bad if no one does. This is the risk Philip Baruth was taking in getting started with his State Senate campaign so early in the cycle.

Whether its because he had a good sense of the changing electoral calendar (at least in Chittenden County) or whether he simply made the calendar follow him, Philip has clearly pulled it off, and has probably changed that elections calendar forever in the county, if not (yet) the state. He’s already raised well into five figures and has reliably turned out volunteers to campaign events – all of which is to say he clearly called it right and, as a result, has a serious leg up on his competition already. Here’s the promo video from his campaign’s official kick-off recently: