Guillaume de Ramel makes an awkward start. The secretary of state hopeful's speeches before a microphone often begin with "I'm not good with these things."

One on one, though, the 32-year-old political newcomer engages in easy, and lengthy, conversation with just about everyone he meets, for so long that his staffers must shoo him along to his next engagement. He is as comfortable talking about World Cup soccer as the state archives or civics education.

De Ramel's opponent in the Democratic primary, North Providence Mayor A. Ralph Mollis, has tried to cast de Ramel's newness in politics as a shortcoming, decrying him at every opportunity as "very inexperienced." Mollis says his decade in the mayor's office makes him the better qualified candidate. De Ramel's response: "For him, it's about a promotion. He's paid his dues. He's moving up to higher office. If I were a voter in the secretary of state race, I'd be looking at, who's got the right ideas? Who's honest?"

De Ramel can rattle off numerous ideas and, like Mollis, he pledges to serve two terms in the office if elected. His campaign platform includes finding a new home for the state archives and letting 16-year-olds preregister to vote.

Also among his talking points from a recent day on the campaign trail: Shortening the 14-year term for members of the state Board of Elections. "You can remove a Superior Court judge more easily than you can remove a member of the Board of Elections," de Ramel says.

He also touts New York City's 311 system -- a call-in center for questions about any aspect of city government, staffed 24 hours a day -- as an example of making government more efficient and offering expanded services at the same time.

He suggests cleaning up the voter rolls by synchronizing them with death certificates, which are kept by the Department of Health, so people are automatically deleted from voting lists when they die.

Though he's made the campaign his full-time job, de Ramel is an adviser to F.H. Prince & Co., his family's Chicago-based investment portfolio.

Mollis has tried to portray de Ramel as out of touch with average Rhode Islanders because of his wealth. De Ramel has spent more than $300,000 on the campaign already, and his wealth may be aiding him in ways other than buying advertising and pastries to serve at coffee hours. On his own and through a family charity, he has contributed to causes held dear to some of the interests that support him.

For instance, de Ramel contributed to the fund for the state's World War II memorial, to a Woonsocket social club that sent care packages to U.S. troops in Iraq, and for a museum exhibit featuring a train car that was sent to Rhode Island full of thank-you gifts from the French after World War II -- contributions the state's veterans are sure to appreciate. The president of a nurses' union that endorsed de Ramel attributed the endorsement in part to financial contributions the Prince Charitable Trusts, operated by de Ramel's family, have made to health-care causes.

Asked whether he's concerned people will perceive those donations as attempts to buy support in the election, de Ramel says he shouldn't be penalized for supporting worthwhile causes.

Shaky starts notwithstanding, De Ramel says he's improved his public speaking since starting the campaign -- and he's had time. He began gunning for the job early last year, just after the birth of his first child, son Charlie, now 19 months old.

A newcomer, de Ramel has surrounded himself with political veterans. His first hire was well-connected political operative Tony Marcella, whose previous employers included U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy and his father, Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. De Ramel's campaign team includes fundraising director Malinda Howard, whose résumé includes work in the Carter White House and fundraising work for the Democratic National Committee along with U.S. Sen Jack Reed, and U.S. Representatives Patrick Kennedy and James R. Langevin.

Early on, de Ramel began courting state lawmakers over dinner, and backed up networking with policy suggestions. He attended a national convention of secretaries of state. He got himself appointed to a special House commission to study the state archives, and got a federal official to visit Rhode Island and issue a report, which described numerous deficiencies at the archives facility.

He also courted labor leaders, marching in favor of better working conditions for janitors and telephoning lawmakers to urge them to vote to ban forced overtime for nurses. He won endorsements from four major labor unions -- the Service Employees' International Union District 1199, the United Nurses and Allied Professionals, the International Brotherhood of Police Officers and the National Education Association of Rhode Island.

De Ramel sought endorsements from city and town Democratic committees. He garnered 9; Mollis got 14. Although it's questionable how much those endorsements will help -- the only one that appears on the ballot is the state party's endorsement, which went to Mollis -- Marcella says: "As a total newcomer in politics in Rhode Island, it's significant that Guillaume got any to begin with. I think it shows that the Democrats in this state are taking him extremely seriously and actually like his message."

De Ramel holds a bachelor's degree from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and a master's degree in real-estate development from Columbia University. His wife, Molly, is director of media relations for Brown University and a former reporter for the Fox News Channel.

egudrais@projo.com / (401) 277-7045