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Hey folks, I am Mooseontheloose and I have been working in American politics and policy for 9 years now. Some background: I have been on Senate, House, city council, and state house campaigns in various roles for Democrats. I have an MPA, worked in an local politicians office, and have moved into a policy role in a local nonprofit! Ask away on policy and politics! I am by no means an expert or David Axelrod but I have some knowledge on this whole sector. I am not the end all or be all of this subject and my word should be taken with grains of salt. Some questions off the bat: 1. Is politics/policy worth it? Given the election of President Trump it is easy to be disheartened about the American system and politics and policy. But I am a true believer in one sense, I truly believe that small movements can grow into bigger ones and create positive change. It's not easy, it's not always fun, but it's worth it when you are able to achieve in a small amount of success. Policy is especially worth it to study and learn. Learning how to work/change the system is CRITICAL in passing any policy and understanding WHY policy is put in place gives amazing context for why certain thing are the way they are. 2. Seriously though....look at 2017 Yaaaah. I know. There is hope to be had though. I think the election of President Trump awoke a lot of millennials that you actually have to show up and there are some signs that Gen X and Millennials are way more liberal than boomers. And again, the system only works if we get more people to participate. Inaction only benefits those in power and especially conservative movements. They bank on your apathy. 3. Should I join a BIG SENATE RACE vs. tiny state house/city council race? So big races you get to meet a lot of people quickly and if you work hard you meet a lot of good staff people who know other people. The issue is that you most likely have to volunteer to even have a shot of being noticed or to meet enough people to make it worth it. Additionally, jobs are tough to come by unless you are in the ground floor. Smaller races allow you to have more control and make a name for yourself quickly but limits the amount of people who notice your work. You are more likely to get a job because the pool of people is smaller and should this person go some place, you are on the ground floor. Also, you have a good idea of operations. 4. I want to be the next Josh Lyman/Olivia Pope/fictional operative right away... Ok. Full stop unless you are Bush Clinton Kennedy the VII, these jobs are rare and hard to get to and even those who have connections are thrown into the minor leagues to make sure they are ready. You either have to eat/breathe/sleep politics AND participate on national level (meaning nationally recognized not Presidential) fairly young. It's super hard to skip steps in politics and while there are stories here and there about some 25 year old wunderkin, look at the last few Presidents and their inner circles. Fairly older people, who have been around for awhile. Don't expect quick success, be surprised when you achieve it. 5. Where can I find campaign jobs? Jobsthatareleft, Mantos List, HillZoo are your best bets. Find local activists groups or consultants, send in your resume. Also, both parties (Democrats/Republicans) congressional and senate election committees have resume banks. 6. Where can I find policy jobs? I wish I knew, if you can show me let me know! 7. I am a Republican/in the business can I contribute to this thread? Please do! 8. Can you help me get a job? It's hard to recommend randos on the internet. I am happy to talk about opportunities and I think it's best to talk over PM. 9. I AM GONNA FIND YOU AND RUIN YOUR CAREER uh...Please don't doxx anyone in this thread. Politics is a EXTREMELY fickle business and exposing people on an internet forum because you disagree with them or hate politics could be really harmful to people's livelihoods. I know I take that risk posting here but I really believe in demystifying politics. 10. Lawn sings joke goes here. Alternative titles for this thread: How I learned to hate lawn signs and their waste of resources.
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Jan 9, 2019 04:15
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Why do you hate lawn signs?
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Jan 9, 2019 20:38
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Coasterphreak posted:Why do you hate lawn signs? They become an incredible burden on the campaign and drain resources that could be used elsewhere. To get a lawn sign out you need to spend money (a somewhat trivial amount), then you have to have your staff person organize the distribution of the lawn signs, which means you need to get a volunteer to drop them off. On top of that some people get REALLY militant about lawn signs and will call you, the campaign manager, and the candidate. And when a candidate gets a call about the lack of lawn signs EVERYONE has to deal with it. They become such an unfun time suck and take away from important parts of campaigning.
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Jan 10, 2019 02:51
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bump for anyone who maybe interested.
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Jan 27, 2019 21:24
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Can you provide a more detailed look at what campaigning is like?
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Jan 27, 2019 22:01
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Azuth0667 posted:Can you provide a more detailed look at what campaigning is like? Sure, is there anything in particular you are curious about? For bigger federal campaigns you have these layers: The candidate (obviously) The management: This starts with the campaign manager in conjunction with the consultants. They decide what strategic plans go forward and the Campaign Manager then executes the plan. Campaigns managers have three directors under them: The Field Director, the Finance Director, and the Press Director. Field handles voter contact, finance gets the money, and Press handles messaging and media. In a statewide campaign you may have another sub-level called Regional Field Director. Say you were in New York: You may have an RFD for NYC, Long Island, Albany, and Upstate. The assistants: Next you have your field organizers, finance assistants, and press assistants. Field organizers are responsible for finding volunteers and voter contact for their area. Finance Assistants help do research for the finance director and help during call time to keep the candidate on task. Press Assistants may help in writing press release, research, and opposition research. The volunteers: these are the people who are in the community and help you contact voters and give you an idea of whats going on in their community. They can be invaluable and infuriating. There are other positions like office managers and tech person depending on the campaign. Campaigns can be 24/7 where you are working 7 day weeks for 12 hours at a time. Though the further you are away from election day the less likely that is to be true. Usually you are working in an empty office space on a temporary rental. Smaller campaigns roles can be combined into each other. Your campaign manager could also be your field or finance person. You are operating with smaller budgets (there are exceptions of course) and your voter poll (tends) to be smaller.
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Jan 27, 2019 22:25
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That's along the lines of what I was curious about. Is call time something present in all campaigns? Do hilarious things happen during it? Also how does candidate selection happen?
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Jan 30, 2019 14:29
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Azuth0667 posted:
All major federal campaigns. I didn't do any finance stuff but I did hear of a story of a Congressman who said he had to go take a vote, they let him go and found out the vote was like 4 hours later. quote:Also how does candidate selection happen? Through the primary?
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Feb 3, 2019 00:09
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