A few notes from the trenches
This is my first post at the DeanBlog. I want to thank Aziz for clearing me to come over from the National Dean Network mailing list groups and allowing me to add my two cents worth here.
For those of you who haven’t checked out your local Dean group, please come by and give us a yell. There are local mailing list groups now up for every state and major city in the country as well as many special interest groups such as students, seniors, disabled individuals and more. Think of them as a next stop for people after going to their local meet-ups. People are doing a ton of local grassroots work all across the country and we’d love to have you join us. A good first stop for checking in is the Howard Dean Coffeehouse. It’s a general hangout for Dean supporters with lots of link to your local Dean supporters. There is also a public networking group attached to the coffeehouse group that’s perfect for discussions about organizing techniques with other Dean grassroots activists.
I have a request for those of you who are experienced campaign organizers. Gov. Dean’s campaign has brought an incredible amount new people to the political process already. I would like to see these people get a chance to learn some good organizing skills before the things really get busy. I wrote an article on the basics of running tables at local events that ended up being named as inspiration for it’s own blog. The grassroots people could use more of these type of articles on subjects like manning and running phone banks, working with local party and elected officials, fundraising, and organizing local canvassing. We want more than simple raw manpower in this campaign. We want skilled organizers on the street for Gov. Dean, and you pros can make that happen. I request you guys start sitting down and writing some lengthy tutorials on the basic skills that volunteers need to be effective organizers for the Campaigning 101 series I started. You can post them at the coffeehouse site and I will make sure they get to all the volunteers in their local groups. Getting all the grassroots volunteers up to speed on their campaigning skills could be the most important thing we do in the next few months.
Adam F. Smith
For those of you who haven’t checked out your local Dean group, please come by and give us a yell. There are local mailing list groups now up for every state and major city in the country as well as many special interest groups such as students, seniors, disabled individuals and more. Think of them as a next stop for people after going to their local meet-ups. People are doing a ton of local grassroots work all across the country and we’d love to have you join us. A good first stop for checking in is the Howard Dean Coffeehouse. It’s a general hangout for Dean supporters with lots of link to your local Dean supporters. There is also a public networking group attached to the coffeehouse group that’s perfect for discussions about organizing techniques with other Dean grassroots activists.
I have a request for those of you who are experienced campaign organizers. Gov. Dean’s campaign has brought an incredible amount new people to the political process already. I would like to see these people get a chance to learn some good organizing skills before the things really get busy. I wrote an article on the basics of running tables at local events that ended up being named as inspiration for it’s own blog. The grassroots people could use more of these type of articles on subjects like manning and running phone banks, working with local party and elected officials, fundraising, and organizing local canvassing. We want more than simple raw manpower in this campaign. We want skilled organizers on the street for Gov. Dean, and you pros can make that happen. I request you guys start sitting down and writing some lengthy tutorials on the basic skills that volunteers need to be effective organizers for the Campaigning 101 series I started. You can post them at the coffeehouse site and I will make sure they get to all the volunteers in their local groups. Getting all the grassroots volunteers up to speed on their campaigning skills could be the most important thing we do in the next few months.
Adam F. Smith
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