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Two weekends ago was our last Camp Wellstone of 2008—or, depending on how you look at it, the first Camp Wellstone after the election. From December 5-7 we set up training shop in Madison, Wisconsin, with the help of our partners at Progressive Majority.
It’s fair to say that none of us at Wellstone Action knew what to expect with a training just one month from the election (and on a cold weekend in Madison!). Would several successful progressive victories signal that the landscape is changing and there’s less demand and enthusiasm for training? Or would it be what we had hoped for, that this election really did change the scope of politics as we know it?
With a packed room of 75 on opening night, the latter seemed to be true with a generous number of folks rounding out each track. The camp took on an inspiring and invigorating theme. As the candidates and campaign workers gathered on Friday night to talk campaign plan and budget, intros from around the room echoed a chorus of “I’m planning to run for office” or “I wasn’t planning on running, but after hearing everyone else, I want to now!” Several candidates in the room had already begun making plans for races over the next two years, as one candidate told us, “I am so energized and encouraged by this training. Running on convictions, values, and respect—not politics as usual, is such a great message. Thank you for reinforcing that it can be done.” The campaign worker track had plenty of fresh-off-the-trail folks, political newcomers, and several SEIU members ready to launch their organizing skills on upcoming labor campaigns.
Over in the Citizen Activist track, the sentiment was, “It’s great to have Obama as President-Elect, but we can’t just sit back”. The realization was that the work has only just begun, especially given the state of our economy. Throughout the weekend these grassroots organizers and activists developed plans to take back to their own communities to keep the progressive movement growing.
If the training in Madison was any indication of how 2009 trainings will look, we won’t be slowing anytime soon. Already the camp requests from across the country have been pouring in and we’re hearing more and more that Camp Wellstone is needed in new places. We’ll kick off ’09 right here in our own backyard. If the 2008 election really did change the face of politics, a whole new crop of folks will want to be community organizers, work on campaigns to elect new progressives to office, or maybe even get the inspiration to run for office themselves. Wellstone Action is poised and ready to be a part of that change.
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