Our Mission
Our mission is to elect progressive populist Democrats who will stand up for America’s working families and be leaders inside the Democratic Party on Capitol Hill, State Houses, counties, and cities across the country.
Our strategy is built on training young campaign staff in field organizing; creating comprehensive grassroots field programs designed to elect progressive candidates on the state and federal level; and placing field organizers on the ground in key competitive elections and in battleground states to turnout the Democratic vote.
Supporting New and Rising Progressive Leaders
First, we identify candidates in the populist tradition of Jim Hightower, Tom Harkin, and Paul Wellstone who have demonstrated the potential to be future leaders. Our focus is on helping to elect candidates seeking office at the local, state, and federal level for the first time. One of our goals is developing a deep “bench team” of progressives who will grow and run for higher office in the future.
Our principal support to elect these rising progressive leaders is to train and provide field organizers to our endorsed candidates. We believe creating real targeted grassroots operations is critical to winning close campaigns. Numerous studies have shown that face to face conversations with voters are more effective in persuading voters than saturation TV ad campaigns.
Second, we train young people who have shown a strong interest in politics and idealism about the future, but who lack the experience or knowledge to effectively participate, in grassroots organizing and field work. We have trained thousands of high school and college students, college graduates, and party activists. We have provided hundreds of them with their first political job in support of the progressive leaders we endorse. Many of these alumni go on to manage higher profile campaigns, become leaders in the progressive community, or even become elected officials themselves.
Third, we continue to support our team of proven leaders after Election Day through our elected officials network and alumni network. In 2008, we will publicly launch a new network of progressive leaders we call the “Progressive Leaders of the 21st Century.”
Our strategy is built on training young campaign staff in field organizing; creating comprehensive grassroots field programs designed to elect progressive candidates on the state and federal level; and placing field organizers on the ground in key competitive elections and in battleground states to turnout the Democratic vote.
First, we identify candidates in the populist tradition of Jim Hightower, Tom Harkin, and Paul Wellstone who have demonstrated the potential to be future leaders. Our focus is on helping to elect candidates seeking office at the local, state, and federal level for the first time. One of our goals is developing a deep “bench team” of progressives who will grow and run for higher office in the future.
Our principal support to elect these rising progressive leaders is to train and provide field organizers to our endorsed candidates. We believe creating real targeted grassroots operations is critical to winning close campaigns. Numerous studies have shown that face to face conversations with voters are more effective in persuading voters than saturation TV ad campaigns.
Second, we train young people who have shown a strong interest in politics and idealism about the future, but who lack the experience or knowledge to effectively participate, in grassroots organizing and field work. We have trained thousands of high school and college students, college graduates, and party activists. We have provided hundreds of them with their first political job in support of the progressive leaders we endorse. Many of these alumni go on to manage higher profile campaigns, become leaders in the progressive community, or even become elected officials themselves.
Third, we continue to support our team of proven leaders after Election Day through our elected officials network and alumni network. In 2008, we will publicly launch a new network of progressive leaders we call the “Progressive Leaders of the 21st Century.”