Nick Troiano

And that happens well before election day.

So unlike the traditional playbook where you spend most of your resources in the last 90 days, you know, your November election is actually months earlier because you have to show that you can be a. What does that look like being showing up in conventional places that other candidates do?

I think in the past, the heuristic would be like traditional media coverage.

Is the press taking you seriously?

What are you polling at?

But today, I think that's changing because the metric that probably matters most in our politics is attention.

Are you getting attention?

Am I hearing from you?

Are you breaking through?

I think that works in the favor of independent candidates to the extent that there are fewer gatekeepers that are saying whether you're credible or not, but you can reach voters directly in a more democratized way than ever has been the case.

I'm hoping that we might see a couple of these candidates actually break through what has been that glass ceiling and then show that it's possible.