This past weekend in Albuquerque,
the buzz was generating around a certain presidential candidate, but for Wellstone Action, the Camp Wellstone participants were the real buzz circulating.
We spent a whole week with the organizers, leaders, and front-line activists of the Power Vote campaign training them on the skills needed to successfully fight for a clean energy future on their campuses and in their communities.
Wellstone Action's signature weekend training program provides hands-on, practical training in grassroots politics for citizen activists, campaign workers, and people interested in running for office.
Judith Stadler is currently active with issue advocacy and grassroots
lobbying in Wisconsin. She is working on a single payer health care
plan to be introduced into legislation. Although she has not garnered
success yet, she follows Camp Wellstone's action planning techniques.
Bringing training to these targeted regions will create a corps of skilled organizers and candidates, and seed
progressive campaigns with the talent they need to win big in November.
Frustrated by a state law telling him he wasn't old enough to give back to his community by donating blood, Joe Gibson, a sophomore at Blooming Prairie High School, decided to do something to change it.
Camp Wellstone, Campus Camp Wellstone, and Camp Sheila Wellstone are all going strong. Our 50th camp was held in Seattle, WA. Here's what people have been saying about past camps.
It won't just be once a year that the Wellstone approach is remembered. It now lives on through the Camp Wellstone political training program coming to a city near you in 2004.
If you are working or
volunteering on a campaign this year, chances are you've been asked to
doorknock. That's because the more
personal the contact with voters the better, and having conversations with them
at their door the most effective tool for getting the votes you need to
win.
As progressives, we know we can find better leaders. We are looking for
leaders who can restore hope, empower citizens, and be effective voices
for change.