David Holt, former vice chair of the local Democratic party, has
been working on political campaigns since he was 16. But, about three
years ago, he attended Democracy for America’s training academy.
“It was pretty great,” he says. “There’s a tendency to say we have a
campaign; the election is in two months; let’s start knocking on
doors.
“When you go into this, you talk about making a plan: This is how
many doors a week you need to knock on; this is how much money you need
to raise each week,” he says.
Held in connection with the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center,
the two-day Democracy for America training program is back in Memphis
Saturday and Sunday, April 25th and 26th, at Southwest Tennessee’s
Community College’s Macon Road campus.
“In my opinion, the big problem in Memphis is we have too many
political gatekeepers between the people and the political process,”
says Brad Watkins with Mid-South Peace & Justice. “A lot of people
want to get involved, but they don’t know where to start.”
Democracy for America grew out of Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential
campaign. Watkins, the local organizer of the Dean campaign, says
there’s a lot of “political strip mining” in Memphis communities.
“Politicians come into communities during campaign season and get
everyone revved up about a candidate, but the day after the election,
they’re gone,” he says.
The training session will include how to build an activist base,
fund-raising strategies, campaign and event planning, and working with
the media.
Preregistration for the course is $60 (or $30 for students and
low-income participants) and can be done via democracyforamerica.com/events/31887.
Registration at the door is $75, or $45 for students and low-income
participants.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a calculator because there is some
“minor math” about targeting precincts and figuring out how many votes
a candidate or issue needs to win.
“If you want to become a candidate for office or work on an issue
campaign, this training is designed to give you all the skills you need
to do that,” Watkins says. “We want to make these skills so common that
just about anybody will be able to campaign.”
