I attended a professional campaign training long week-end. The local party paid for the training. I knew it had to be expensive. When I heard the actual cost for the training, though, I was astounded. I learned more practical things from three days than I did in all my years of Senate, NY politics, and volunteering in campaigns. As I've grown older, I dislike campaigns more and more. I am a policy wonk. As a high school student, I wanted to be a full-time campaign professional. Local races don't overturn your life. These pros wander around the country all the time. Besides, it would make sense to get an MBA in finance or marketing to do the important work.
Nothing we learned was party specific. Once I interviewed during disability for a GOP position). I wonder why C-Span or some group, similar to the Chamber of Commerce, do not run courses. The boring work of knocking on doors (people are amazed how I do it with NO problem as a seasoned pro until I explain my Witness upbringing. Next, they ask for my help!), passing out voter registration forms, get out the vote, and most voter integriy work is much easier to do if you know behind the scenes information.
I would be interested in knowing what they covered. For example, we were taught fine details on handling the press, marketing, and even where to stand when knocking on doors (the Witnesses never taught this). More details of your training would be nice.
Once when Tim Russert was alive, I watched a Meet the Press episode when he interviewed key Democratic and Republican political operatives. They said that voting is not an ideological choice but a life style choice. With the use of bar code scanning, data on our toothpaste, soda, mouthwash, clothing, etc. purchaes is aggregated. Consumer brand loyalty is cllearly linked with party affiliation. They named Coke vs. Pepsi, Colgate vs. Crest, arugula vs. iceberg lettuce, even deodorant. Tim Russert was a middle of the road. Everyone one of my products indicated that I was a hard core Democrat. It stunned me. I was so transparent. These products are marketed to attract this lifestyle choice. Campaigns use this informatoin to target their likely voters who live in opposition geographical areas. Purchasing this data makes reaching isolated voters doable.
I recall when music choice was similar. Elvis attracted a more conservative crowd than the Beatles. When I was at Woodstock, I realized that the Viet Nam War could be stopped. I kept running into the same crowd as every NY area rock concert.It seemed as though a few thousand people were drawn to the same event. Suddenly, the music seemed to cross to a much wider audience. Blue jean wearing used to signal your politics.
