Are You Ready for Campaign Boot Camp?
Raise your hand if you are frustrated at the current political climate in Alaska.
Raise your hand if you are ready to stop wringing your hands and are ready to do something about it.
OK, everybody better have raised their hands that last time. And this is a very good thing, because your opportunity to do just that has arrived! The fine folks at Democracy for America (DFA) have heard our cries for help, mounted their noble steeds, and are galloping north to hold a Campaign Academy!
(I wait politely while the squealing, clapping and bouncing dies down)
This is the perfect opportunity for those of you who wish you knew more to learn it, and an equally perfect opportunity for those of you who think you know it to sharpen your skills, hear new ideas and network with some fabulous people both in state and from outside.
So, what exactly IS a Campaign Academy?
The DFA Campaign Academy mission is to focus, network, and train grassroots activists in the skills and strategies to take back our country, manage successful campaigns or run for office themselves.
Our Campaign Academy weekends are 16 hours of interactive workshops that bring hundreds of local activists, campaign staff and candidates together for 2 days of intensive campaign training. Experienced campaign professionals lead sessions in voter contact, fundraising, communications, on-line organizing and much more to empower progressive activists with the skills to win in November and beyond. Attendees also meet with dozens of local progressive candidates and learn about exciting job and volunteer opportunities in their area. And of course, everyone receives their own copy of DFA’s 180-page Campaign Training Manual.
Year after year, the DFA Campaign Academy is building a grassroots infrastructure of skilled progressive activists in all 50 states.
Field
• Your Field Plan: Vote Goals, Targeting, and Field Strategy
• Building Your Activist Base
• Voter Contact Tactics and Strategies
• Get Out the Vote (GOTV)Communications
• Developing a Campaign’s Message
• Working with the Media
• Advanced Campaign CommunicationFinance
• Fundraising Strategy and Making the Ask
• Tactics: Events and Call Time
• Budgeting and Finance PlanningOnline
• Online Organizing: E-mail Engagement
• Advanced Online Organizing: Social MediaMiscellaneous
• Strategic Planning
• Careers in Politics: Getting a Campaign Job
Cost: $70 (regular) / $35 (low-income/student)
Your contribution helps DFA cover its costs, including the venue rental and your copy of our 180 page training manual, lunch and coffee (both days). If you are unable to afford the full cost, reduced rates are available for students and people with low incomes.
Register today because your cost at the door will increase by $10.
And, believe it or not you have homework already! I know I’m a taskmaster, but you’ll thank me later, I promise.
Homework:
Scroll to the top of this post and click the tiny little Facebook box. Then add a motivational message like “YEAH BABY!!! Time for Campaign Boot Camp! We’re gonna take it to those so-and-sos, and they’ll never know what hit ’em!” or something equally eloquent. Then share it on Facebook.
If you’re not on Facebook, then share this post via email to your Anchorage list.
And if you’re on Twitter, share it there.
See how many of your friends you can get to register and make it like a big progressive field trip for all the people you want to hang out with!
Knowledge is power, so let’s get powered up!
*If you are not in Alaska, do not despair! Campaign Academies are also being held this weekend in Ft. Worth, Texas, September 10-11 in Portland, Oregon; and September 17-18 in Bloomington, Indiana. If you are interested in having a DFA Campaign Academy in your town, click HERE to get started.
Last night on Keith Olbermann, Palin made it on worst person list AGAIN:
Sarah Palin’s Entire Journalism Career Consist Of TWO Fill In Sportscast On Anchorage TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXwq8DITSc8&feature=player_embedded
Please go if you can. Mudpup Jr. went twice – as a state representative to the Young Democrats convention and then (thanks to all of you) at Netroots. He returned so inspired and ready for action. DFA called him about organizing a phone bank and door knocking campaign in Oregon during the 2010 campaign, and he was on the next flight. He is already planning for 2012. Whether you use the knowledge at home or travel to other states, you will be equiped to make a big difference.
This entire day in the news from Thom Hartmann is well worth reading:
http://www.truth-out.org/news-thom-hartmann/1311262990
but this piece of it may have an outsized effect on air-travel-dependent Alaskans:
“The Federal Aviation Administration could shut down tomorrow as a result of antics by House Republicans. Congress needs to pass legislation to extend funding for the FAA by Friday – but the legislation that passed out of the House yesterday to do just that is chock-full of right-wing ideology that the Senate won’t pass. Republicans used the FAA funding bill to wage a war on unions – slipping in language that makes it much harder for air and rail workers to unionize. The Republican bill also cuts off subsidies to rural airports that don’t generate enough revenue on their own to survive but are still crucial to the nation’s transportation system. That’s right – Republicans are standing up to rural airports when it comes to taxpayer subsidies – but not massive oil corporations. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood weighed on Republicans using the FAA bill as a Trojan horse to advance their anti-working class agenda by saying, “Congress needs to stop playing games…and pass a clean FAA bill immediately. There is no excuse for not getting this done.” Today – no piece of legislation can escape ideological manipulation by the Republican Party.”
I know this is OT, but Alaskans need to know about it, and the Moon Day thread seems to have been neglected by most.
P.S.S. let’s give some of this CrapFest of deregualtion it’s due: Thank you Bill Clinton for repealling the Glass Steagall Act from 1933.
Thanks Bill. Nice bit of national subterfuge.(Clarence Thomas and his wife goes without saying)
For politicians everything is fair game at the expense of lives and truth- collateral damage is the American Dream for the peons to endure and apparently subsidize.
Thanks for letting us know. It’s good have time to plan on being gone from “my job”. I’ll be looking for safe lodging etc.. in Anchorage.
These are troubling times.
This is great, it will make a difference. Those of us opposed to theocracy or corporate fascism should take note, the republicans are a minority. They have virtually unlimited resources at their disposal compared to the relatively finite resources we have, especially in terms of access to the eyes and ears of mass markets. But we all know each other and that is potentially more powerful than any mass media.
We have to communicate.
In that spirit I mention that I made a comment at the end of the previous thread that has a lot of opinion and even some actual news that many of you might find worth reading. I make this shameless self promotion because I almost always come onto threads posted here that are already played out. It is the 5 hour time difference.
No fair!
Too far away for so many of us!
Expecting reports from ANC and valley pups- please.
Southeast pups waiting to hear…
Sounds like a great time! I had to miss DFA’s course in NYC, but they’ll be back. Of course, I already have very decent representation, but there’s always more to learn.
Fantastic! What a great opportunity!
I wish the “take back our country” phrase could be eliminated from progressive dialogue. I instantly associate it with the Tea Party mantra. Take back to what, 1860? 1776? I’ve yet to find a conservative that can give me a straight answer. Forward phrasing is preferable, as MSNBC’s “lean forward.” Let’s work to turn Alaska blue again in 2012, or at the very least a solid purple. Parnell must go!
Agree 100% with: “I wish the “take back our country” phrase could be eliminated from progressive dialogue.” With neo-Conservatives and Teabaggers using the phrase at every turn [Bachmann and Palin, in particular], when progressives use it, it reminds me of little kids having a pixxing contest: “I know you are, but what am I?”
Don’t know if I’m so fond of “lean” as a part of the rally cry, though…I notice when something keeps leaning, it eventually just tips right over. I think I’d vote for the preference of: ‘go forward’ or ‘move forward.’ beth.
Done and done 🙂
Go go go if you POSSIBLY can!!!!. It’s the most fun and most inspiring thing you can do going into 2012. It will stretch your brain and you will meet tons o’ cool people or reconnect with those you already know. You will find your future activities easier, smarter and more fun. Most are total greenhorns when they arrive, pros when they leave. And if it’s like the Chicagoland ones, great food and grog and laughter at local watering holes in the evenings. I’m a graduate and now play teacher assistant whenever I can. You will kick yourself if you miss it!
What a great opportunity! But also too, if you can’t do this, there are other ways to get involved. A few hours of time volunteering for a campaign, a letter to the editor, or just donating $10 to the candidate of your choice can make a difference, especially in Alaska where elections are often determined by less than 100 votes, and sometimes by only one.