I will quote anything that reinforces the necessity of showing up. From SF Weekly’s “The Many Faces of Leland Yee: A Politician’s Calculated Rise and Dramatic Fall” :

Upon reflection, Yee’s principles may be ever-shifting and his policies may be decorative, but he found a way around this: by being omnipresent.

He knew the name of every neighborhood stalwart from every neighborhood club; he cleaned hundreds of plates at hundreds of Chinatown banquets; he sat through countless community meetings, gathering hundreds of converts at a time: “In local politics,” says one longtime player, “a cup of coffee and a handshake can win you a friend for life.”

Yee showed up at your kid’s bar mitzvah or high school graduation; he showed up at your community gathering; he showed up at your neighborhood bazaar — in short, he showed up. His staff returned your phone call. And he read your letters: A former associate says Yee never failed to leave the office at the end of a long day toting a thick stack of mail that he made a point of poring through. In insider jargon, this is known as “retail politics.” Few worked harder or did it better.