Hittin' the streets.

We at the Campaign Academy block-walked for the first time late last week, and since then, we've been burnin' up the pavement. We've been walking around the east side this week, passing out literature for a Democratic block party at the Coordinated Campaign headquarters, that is coming up on the 22nd of this month. It's made me look at my devotion to this party in a whole different way ... who in their right mind block-walks in the 98+ degree heat to put little pieces of paper on people's doors?

People who love the Democratic party, that's who. I've been out twice today already, and I can tell you I'm on fire for the party.

Figuratively and literally.

Prof Steckler Talks Shop-- And Listens, Too

Last Thursday at the Campaign Academy, we had Paul Steckler come and speak to us. Mr. Steckler directed the documentary we viewed on Monday, Last Man Standing. We asked him what went into his decision to base his documentary on the Texas 2002 governor and state representative races. He discussed the potential change that could have occurred with the Sanchez and Kirk races (see my last post) and the chance some of us thought we had to bring the state back into Democratic control. As we all know now, that didn't happen. In covering these races, the Rose/Green campaign came to his attention, and well, aren't we all glad he did, because it resulted in a great documentary. He also made a film called Vote for Me, and has reformed the film academy at UT and teaches there. 

We asked him what the best way to get an important person to come and see us at the academy was, and he gave us the advice to ask simple questions to get the answers we want. At the end, he asked us what we would think was important in a campaign if all we had seen or heard about campaigns was what we viewed in Last Man Standing. Which I thought was really great, because he seemed genuinely interested in our views, and what we thought. We learned on one of the previous days, that in targeting for campaigns, the younger voters are generally overlooked, and efforts are more concentrated on swing voters, and other demographics. It really does speak a lot of the tide turning in politics today, that people really are listening to the opinions of the younger voters. Some of the things we mentioned were the importance of message and appearance, and connecting with voters and taking your opponent seriously.

It was great to have him here to speak to us, and we learned a great deal about what goes into documentary film making.

Last Film Standing at GSD&M

by Kaeri Pav

On Monday, the first day of the Mark Strama Campaign Academy, we visited GSD&M IdeaCity, located on West 6th Street in downtown Austin. They were kind enough to let us use their facilities (a very nice, large, theater-style room) to view a documentary by Paul Stekler entitled Last Man Standing. It chronicles the campaigns of Tony Sanchez and Ron Kirk against Rick Perry and John Cornyn, and the race for state representative between Patrick Rose and Rick Green in District Number 45.

The film takes a closer look at the rise and fall of our "dream team" ticket for governor and senator, and what happened that made it fall. In the race for representative, the documentary looks at the dynamics between the Rose and Green campaigns, taking a person look into each party's reactions from the beginning of the race until election day.

It also talks about the great enthusiasm that was seen at the 2002 State Democratic convention in El Paso, Texas, and the huge positive energy that existed therein. I know for a fact how optimistic we all were, because that was the very first convention I attended, and very one that got me interested in Texas Democratic politics.

It was an excellent movie, giving us a lot of insight into Texas campaign politics, and a great start for what is sure to be a wonderful Strama Campaign Academy.