[DoNotDivide]

Go to a local government Party meeting.

[Petronski]

You can get the paperwork from your local County or City Board of Elections (try the courthouse).

You'll probably want the backing of a party, so find out who runs those too.

[teenyelliott]

Look up your state's GOP website, and contact them.

[Howie66]

First question: Are you a liberal? If the answer to this is "Yes", then move to Mexico.

If the answer is "Not only NO!, but HELL, No!!", then get involved in your local chapter of the Republican Party, perhaps as a precinct chairman and go from there.

GOOD LUCK!!

[GSlob]

Become a scoundrel. The rest would follow naturally.

[Publius]

Ping. Your expertise might be helpful.

[Choose Ye This Day]

Which office? Which locale?

I ran for mayor of the small town we lived in in Minnesota. I paid my $2 filing fee, and I was a candidate. Simple as that.

Then, I started knocking doors, BRIEFLY telling people why I was running and what I wanted to see happen in our town, then I asked them what their concerns were and I listened.

I lost (badly) but it was a lot of fun, I got to meet some great people, and that's how I learned a bit about the process.

[WFTR]

The first step is to join the local party and begin volunteering in other candidates' campaigns. Candidates and party leaders remember the people who make the phone calls and knock on doors. Campaigning is difficult, and those who are willing to do the dirty work earn respect. Another volunteer job for the party is that of poll watcher. The job is often stressful and seemingly thankless, but the experience can be educational. In addition to volunteer campaign work, you'll want to attend meetings for the office that you want to seek. You'll probably also want to attend town hall meetings whenever national politicians come to town.

Once you build a good reputation, you can look into whether you have the personality to run. If you speak poorly and just make a generally bad impression, you have little chance, and someone will probably suggest that you not go any further. If you make a reasonably good impression, then you can ask local party leaders about whether you should run. If your local party already has someone in the seat that you want, then you're in a bad position already and should look for another office. If the party doesn't have a candidate for that seat, you'll have a good opportunity to run.

The first election will largely depend on your ability to knock on doors and make a good impression on people. You'll want to find some volunteers to help, but you need to knock on the most doors on your own. You'll probably also need to spend a good bit of your own money on signs and campaign literature. The whole thing can be somewhat daunting, and I've pretty much written off the idea of ever running for myself. If you give it a shot, I wish you well.

Bill

[Squantos]

First explore yer options by making great bumper stickers and see who is opposed to ya before ya spend a lot of money on your efforts.....:o)

Eaker saved us millions by doing it this way first !

[endthematrix]

Start out as a Precinct Committeemen. Then you can spring into almost any local election. Then who knows...

[Larry Lucido]

Start a data processing firm, rescue some of your employees from an Iranian jail, sell the company to General Motors for five billion, spend $20 million setting up a political organization with branches in every state, have your dog chase some Black Panthers across your lawn, back out temporarily when your daughter's wedding gets disrupted, then jump back in.

Oh, and ya gotta be 35 and a natural born U.S. citizen.

Did I miss anything?