PHOTO COURTESY OF SARAH FLOERKE Sarah Floerke, a graduate of Lampasas High School, recently began working as director of organization for the re-election campaign of Gov. Rick Perry. It all started with a note from her mother and a copy of a Lampasas Dispatch Record story.

While attending Texas Tech University, former Lampasan Sarah Floerke, organizational director for Gov. Rick Perry's re-election campaign, received a notice that Senator John Cornyn was taking applications for interns.

Miss Floerke's mother, Linda Floerke, encouraged her to apply, and Miss Floerke was selected as one of five interns -- and the only woman -- to work during the summer for the newly elected senator in Washington, D.C.

As a result of the internship, Miss Floerke "fell in love with politics," and she served as state chairman of the Texas Federation of College Republicans.

That position led to a five-month post as assistant committee clerk for the Texas House of Representatives Committee on Local and Consent Calendar. During the 2005 legislative session, Miss Floerke read and analyzed more than 900 bills, wrote and published committee minutes, and created the Local and Consent Calendar.

She then worked until December 2006 as primary elections administrator and county chairman coordinator for the Republican Party of Texas, accepting all primary candidate filings and providing direction to 240 Republican county chairmen.

Two and a half years of service as Perry's director of community affairs allowed Miss Floerke to address a variety of civic and trade groups to promote the governor's legislative agenda.

Since beginning her duties last month as organizational director, Miss Floerke has continued to mobilize a variety of party activists statewide, collect endorsements for Perry and communicate with organizations across the state to generate support for the governor's re-election campaign.

Social media Web sites, which Miss Floerke said President Barack Obama used successfully in his run for office, have enabled candidates and their aides to communicate rapidly and to expand their messages into new areas. Facebook.com has become a valuable campaign tool, she said, and Perry also writes his own messages on Twitter, a social networking site that limits each note, or "tweet," to 140 characters. The governor's tweets mention anything from signing a bill to finishing a workout around Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Miss Floerke said.

"The governor always says, 'It's my way, by tweeting, of talking di- rectly to the people.'"

Despite the use of new technology, familiar techniques like canvassing neighborhoods, handing out brochures and speaking in person with voters still have the most power to influence an election, the former Lampasan said. Miss Floerke devotes special attention to energizing activists at the municipal and county levels.

"It's the mayors, the county commissioners and the party chairmen who will get the governor reelected," she said.

Miss Floerke's duties require travel all over the state, and she said the governor's campaign team maintains strong ties with leaders and party volunteers in small towns. Many organizations Miss Floerke contacts represent the agricultural sector, and she has spoken to trade organizations that range from Texas Farm Bureau to the Texas Deer Association to a number of chambers of commerce.

"The rural community is the heart of Texas," she said.

Campaigning will become more intense in December, when candidates officially file for a place on the ballot. Perry's early efforts to promote his legislative goals, Miss Floerke said, have included visits to several "tea parties" that protest the growth in national spending and government power.

"You're seeing the growing frustration with all Washington officials," Miss Floerke said. "Every single group I talk with, or people who call our office, say they're frustrated with Washington."

Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas' senior U.S. senator, has said she intends to challenge Perry in the Republican primary. Tom Schieffer, former U.S. ambassador to Japan and Australia, and therapist Mark Thompson of Garland have announced they will enter the Democratic Party primary. Entertainer Kinky Friedman also is considering a run in the Democratic primary.

Miss Floerke knows that many months of little sleep and constantly ringing telephones await Perry's campaign workers, but the former Lampasan said she is excited to face the challenges ahead.

"I look forward to continuing to work with the governor," Miss Floerke said.