It’s hard to get noticed when you’re way down-ballot.

More on that in a moment on the Face The State Radio Minute.

“How do you get that word out to 54,000 miles?” That’s a good question, asked by Democrat Jill Brake, running against Republican Marcia Neal for state school board in the 3rd congressional district.

The Grand Junction Free Press recently profiled the race, highlighting the difficulty of building election buzz down-ballot from hotly-contested Presidential and U.S. Senate races. This rural Colorado district is bigger than some entire states, and the Colorado Board of Education has a lot of responsibility in building strong schools.

Even though the race isn’t very flashy, it is important. For all the election hype, local officials make decisions much closer to home than does the President. There are stark differences between Brake and Neal, and all candidates for state office for that matter. Let’s not leave them hanging, way down-ballot.

For FaceTheState.com, I’m Brad Jones.