The DPP's pick for Taipei mayor, Shen Bo-yang, is setting up his campaign base and racing to introduce himself to green-camp voters who barely know him — a shaky start for the party in the capital.

• Shen has settled on his campaign headquarters: the same storefront Lai Ching-te used for his presidential run and Chen Shih-chung used for his Taipei mayor bid, with an official launch expected late September or October.
• His goal is a "25+1 home run" — winning the mayor's seat plus all the DPP city council races — and he'll start appearing alongside council candidates from mid-September.
• Green-camp council members admit many voters don't just find Shen unfamiliar, they "completely don't know him," so the party is planning meet-and-greet sessions to shore up its base.
• Council candidates are holding off on opening their own campaign offices — Taipei rents are brutally high — with newcomers opening first, then incumbents, from mid-September to mid-October.
• Shen is also trading jabs with sitting KMT mayor Chiang Wan-an over a leak scandal and over the stalled central government budget fight in the legislature.

Outlook: Expect a busy September-October stretch of office openings and joint appearances as Shen tries to raise his profile and lock down DPP loyalists before the race heats up.