What I learned from the experiences is:

1. The party committee whose endorsement that you are seeking are woefully ill-informed.
2. They are a tight-knit group who are looking for a party puppet and definitely not somebody who wants to follow the constitution.
3. I was personally accused of mail fraud by the person that I was challenging. The post office contacted me one evening which felt very odd to me. One employee that I spoke with finally asked me what was on the flyer that I was passing out in the neighborhood. I read the flyer to her and her response was "Oh honey, you didn't break any laws, you pissed somebody off for telling the truth". I found out after the election that the person that I was challenging took every time that I left the polling station to pull voters aside and tell them that I committed mail fraud and was a cheater. Aside from being childish and being a gossip monger, I found it quite distasteful.
4. If you want to run a successful small campaign then be prepared to kiss a lot of butt and associate with people that just being around them will make you feel physically ill. I met one person in particular who was a party member and quite popular in the party and held a county council position. It honestly felt like I was talking to evil incarnate and mentioned that to several close friends. A few years later, she ended up in jail. While in jail, the party sent out an email saying that she was bored and asked members to send her books! They should have sent her a bible and a copy of the constitution.
5. If you really want to run for any position, prepare to spend years working yourself up the "party ladder".
6. You can attempt to run as a third party candidate but the average voter follows the party endorsements. Not only that, if you run as a third party candidate then you also need a minimum of three times the amount of signatures to get on the ballot and every signature on your petition(s) will be challenged by one or both parties.

Not too sure if this information helps or not.