Training Progressive Field Organizers For The Future

The 2008 election presents an incredible opportunity for Democrats to take control of our government and build the foundation for a long lasting progressive movement in our country. But to win in November, we will have to contend with a desperate Republican Party that has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to divide and deceive the American people for their own partisan gain. To cut through all of the GOP propaganda, Faux News misinformation campaigns and right-wing radio hate speech Democrats are going to have to get out and talk face-to-face with voters about our vision for America and how we will put this country back on track.

At 21st Century Democrats, we are working hard to play our role in the progressive infrastructure. We train activists in the art of field organizing and then put them on campaigns all across the country so they can go out and talk to voters about our candidates and our vision for the future. On June 4-8, we will hold our National Field Organizer Training: Major League Action at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Over four days of intensive training, we will transform up to 200 activists into prepared field organizers that can be dropped anywhere in the country and start making a difference right away.

You can learn more about our MLA training here. Or, if you’re all ready to go and would like to reserve a spot in the training you can register here!

Our organization seeks to build a more progressive America not only by electing more progressive Democrats, but also by building human capital within the progressive community. Training a young person to be a field organizer helps us not only in the current cycle, but gives that person a skill that will be valuable in every election. Thankfully, there are a lot of great groups like The Center for Progressive Leadership, Democracy For America, The New Organizing Institute, Wellstone Action! and many others that train progressive activists, organizers and candidates.

If you want to get more involved with the election this year and build some organizing skills for the future, please consider attending our Major League Action Training and/or one of the other great trainings put on by our progressive allies. Or, if you can’t make it and would like to help pay the travel expenses and registration fees for a dedicated young progressive to attend our training you can donate to our Field Organizer Fund. The better we are at finding and talking to our neighbors about the issues that are important to them, the more successful we will be in November and the more likely we are to build a true progressive movement in this country.

Making a difference in New Mexico's 3rd

You may ask what on Earth a born-and-raised South Carolina sandlapper like myself is doing out here in the land of coyotes and roadrunners. The answer is simple: Ben Ray Lujan.

But to understand that, you'd have to look back a little further...

I got started on this whole political game at the ripe old age of 12. My next door neighbor's son-in-law was running for county council and had just gotten attacked in the local paper by a local political king-maker wannabe. So he hired me (for a whopping $20...don't laugh, it's a lot of money when you're 12) to canvass my own neighborhood with flyers pointing out the factual errors contained in that letter to the editor.

Mr. Moore didn't win that election, but by then I was hooked. Voter contact was a lot of fun...profitable, too!

So flash forward a few years. I was elected as third vice chair of my county party by the time I was 17, thanks to that loophole in SC law that allows 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the time of the general election to register and vote in the primaries and caucuses leading up to that election. After high school (and after killing a few years on the SC coast), I got involved in the local anti-war movement...and things got moving again. I enrolled in college at the University of South Carolina at Upstate, where I (of course) majored in political science. I began volunteering with the Spartanburg County Democratic Party, primarily working on get-out-the-vote programs. I went to Columbia as a delegate to the state party convention three years in a row...and that's where I met New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson way back in April 2007.

I knew he was a long shot to win the Democratic primaries, but the genuinely impressed me. And besides, I'm a South Carolina Democrat...I'm no stranger to long-shot campaigns. So the chairwoman of the county party got me in touch with his campaign, and presto, I'm a field organizer. And then I got transferred to Iowa...

If you've never been to Iowa during caucus season, you have no idea what you're missing. For a few months every four years, the state of Iowa becomes the center of the political universe. If you sneeze in Des Moines, there'll always be a Presidential candidate nearby who'll offer you a Kleenex. It's a surreal experience, to be sure...

Anyways, long story short, I ended up meeting all manner of political big shots from the state of New Mexico thanks to the campaign I was working for. No, we didn't do nearly as well in Iowa as we'd hoped (but it wasn't from a lack of trying!) So, after coming back to South Carolina and working a gas station job for a few months, the Ben R. Lujan campaign came calling. They needed someone to help organize eastern New Mexico, and they seemed to recall some country boy from South Carolina who'd be perfect for that position...

So I must thank 21st Century Democrats for making this all possible. Yes, climatologically speaking, I'm a little out of my element here, but the issues facing rural America are very similar no matter what state you're in. It feels good to be working for a candidate who not only understands these issues but has made a career out of addressing them. For once in my checkered career as a political operative, I feel like I'm making a real difference.

3rd Round Candidate Endorsements - Group One

21st Century Democrats Board of Directors voted to endorse so many great progressive leaders in the 3rd round that we have decided to announce them in three groups. This first set includes 9 candidates from Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Washington, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, Oregon and New Jersey. These states will all be critical battlegrounds in the race for President, and Democrats can win up and down the ballot in all of them if we are able to get our message of progressive change out to voters.

See our Third Round – Group One Endorsements
OR
Support our Endorsed Candidates by Contributing to
21st Century Democrats Today

Merkley and Brown Win in Oregon

Yesterday, Oregon Secretary of State candidate Kate Brown and US Senate candidate Jeff Merkley both won their primary contests. Merkley, the current Speaker of the Oregon House, scored a hard-fought victory over Steve Novick and earned the right to challenge Republican Senator Gordon Smith in November. Brown, the former Majority Leader in the State Senate, won a resounding victory against several primary opponents and is now one step closer to becoming Oregon’s next Secretary of State.

We’ll have a full report as soon as all the votes are counted, but until then, The Oregonian’s website, oregonlive.com, has a interactive map for all State’s primary races you can play with.

New Ad in Maine: Uncommon Leadership

Chellie Pingree (ME-1) released a new television spot earlier this week:

Steve Bullock (MT-AG) is on TV!

Montana Attorney General candidate Steve Bullock recently released a trio of television spots ahead of his June 3rd primary:

The ads highlight two of Steve’s most important endorsements. Former Montana Attorney General and State Senate President Joe Mazurek believes that Steve’s experience “sets him apart” from his opponents while Missoula Mayor John Engen praises Steve’s commitment to public safety.

You can learn more about Steve and his campaign by visiting their website:
www.stevebullock.com
or
Help put these ad on TV by contributing today!

Jennifer Brunner at 2008 Signature Gala

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner discusses the need to encourage voter participation and ensure that all the votes are counted:

Leaders In Action - Rep. Ellison and Sen. Raskin

One of the most important issues discussed by the new members of our 21st Century Leaders In Action program was the importance of defending our constitutionally guaranteed right to vote. Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin have been particularly dedicated to protecting civil rights and encouraging voter participation since they were elected in 2006.

Congressman Keith Ellison (MN-5) was fired-up when he took the stage and immediately expressed his frustration with the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Indiana's voter ID law. He identified the photo ID requirement for what it is: an attempt by Republicans to impose a back-door poll tax to suppress the vote amongst minorities, the elderly and the poor. Republicans claim that the law is intended to prevent voter fraud, but even the Supreme Court acknowledged that there are no reported cases of voter impersonation in Indiana’s entire history and the State has never prosecuted anyone for impersonation fraud. As Congressman Ellison rightly noted, “The only fraud going on is when they try to defraud legitimate voters, and trick them out of their right to vote through deceptive processes … there is no impostor voting.”


More importantly, Congressman Ellison went on to stress the need for progressives to come together to oppose this Jim Crow era law and others like it. “I think that [the Supreme Court’s] decision must be viewed as a powerful shot across the bow, a wakeup call for us. Let’s get together and rededicate ourselves, dig-in and fight back.” Thankfully, strong progressives like Keith Ellison are digging-in and fighting back to protect the rights of our most vulnerable citizens and communities. Recently Congressman Ellison introduced a bill that would ban photo ID requirements to vote and just yesterday he sponsored legislation encouraging voter participation by allowing citizens to register on election day.

Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin (District 20) has also been an amazing champion of voter and civil rights. In just 16 months in office the Senator has already passed several important electoral reforms. Last April he sponsored and passed a law making Maryland the first state in the nation to commit to an interstate compact to cast all the State’s Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote (thereby making every American’s vote count in the Presidential election). More recently, Senator Raskin ushered through a bill that allows 17 year olds in Maryland to vote in the primary election, if they will turn 18 before the general election. These kinds of reforms are essential to improving our democracy and engaging every voter, most especially young people.


I can’t think of two individuals more deserving of being honored as 21st Century Leaders in Action than Congressman Ellison and Senator Raskin. They have consistently stood up for the rights of the American people and fought to protect our constitution. They demonstrate why we do what we do at 21st Century Democrats: elect progressives leaders who will stick with their convictions and create public policy that builds a better America.

2008 Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award Winner

Former United States Senator Harris Wofford presents the 2008 Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award for Political Organizing to Ohio ACORN’s Lead Organizer Katy Gall.

An Evening with 21st Century Democrats

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the 21st Century Democrats' gala celebration after winning the tickets at a drawing at the Take Back America conference. I attend a lot of Democratic and progressive events, but what struck me about both the conference and the gala was that they both provided a rare forum to come together to talk not just about who should win elections, but why we must win. Winning means affordable education, health care for all Americans, clean and fair elections across the country, the return of civil liberties and respect for the constitution, an end to the war in Iraq, and a serious effort to combat global warming. Throughout the conference and the gala people talked about issues, not candidates. At a time when many people are firmly entrenched in their candidate's corner, I think we sometimes lose sight of what is at stake and the chance that we have to concretely better the lives of others and our planet through electoral politics.

While the presidential debates spiral away from substance and the campaign trail gets increasingly muddied, the 21st Century Democrats' gala and the Take Back America conference provided the chance to collectively affirm our common progressive goals and remind us what winning back the White House and strengthening our representation at all levels of government really means. Let's hope that next year we can reconvene at these two events to celebrate all that we've accomplished and continue to push forward our progressive values!