Last year, I had an opportunity to be a part of something I will never forget. I got to be part of a draft effort that shook up the 2010 election season, if just for the primary season, and contributed to strengthening the reforms put in place to reign in Wall Street. I'm glad to have been a part of the Draft Halter effort, and I'm glad to have met the people I did through it (in Arkansas, the folks that worked on the Halter campaign in any capacity still have a sort of "band of brothers" connection and many of us stay in contact and are working hard on other projects) and to have learned the things that I did. There's a lot to be learned from the Draft Halter effort on how to wage a successful draft effort, and as we gear up for 2012 I thought I'd share them with everyone to make sure that other people can do what we did in Arkansas and perhaps more. (I will probably repost this several times over the next year to make sure plenty of people get a chance to see it.)
There are countless potential candidates who would make great U.S. Senators, Representatives, Governors, etc. and could make a real difference if elected. There are many more dedicated activists and potential activists with their hearts in the right place who have more power than they know to change the world itself. Hopefully, the lessons from the Draft Halter effort will help them do just that.
Tips for a successful draft effort-
- Start local-If your campaign is going to have any legitimacy at all, it has to start with local people. Blanche Lincoln was lying through her teeth when she said the Halter campaign was drafted by "outsiders" but she was right that the charge could deal some serious damage. The Halter campaign didn't start with "Washington unions", or MoveOn, or Kos. Hell, it didn't even start with me. It started with a guy named Bob Estes who got thirty people to join a facebook group. From there, it snowballed into something incredible, bringing people from all across the state and country in. And whenever Lincoln and her supporters said a word about outsiders, we just had to point to the facebook page and to the local people supporting Bill.
- Make an argument for your candidate-If you want to convince people to join your effort, or convince the candidate to run for that matter, you better be able to make a solid argument for their candidacy. That means you have to explain not just what's wrong with the opposition but why your candidate is the best person to run and, most importantly to the candidate, how they can win. In our case, Lincoln made it easy to explain why she was so bad and Bill had a lot of good things to point to-the scholarship lottery, the free clinic in Little Rock, his willingess to give his pay raise to charity, and his strong showing when he ran for Lt. Gov in '06. But we also had to argue that there was a winning formula for him. The ways we suggested that Bill could win actually played out in the campaign and brought him heartbreakingly close to victory. Hopefully, we'll see activists surpass us in 2012 by laying out battle plans for candidates that will not only cut it close but actually carry them to victory.
- Don't be afraid of making mistakes and never give up-This may sound a little silly but it's true and very important. There were many nights I went to bed during the draft effort worrying that the campaign was amatuer hour in Arkansas. Truth is, in many ways it was, and that wasn't a bad thing. In fact, I'd argue that it gave us legitimacy. We weren't professionals, just ordinary folks who'd never done anything like this before trying to do what we felt was right. The truth is, we all make mistakes in anything that we do and, even in politics, mistakes are to be learned from and are rarely as damaging as we often fear. Just be willing to correct the mistake and learn from it and no matter what, no matter how dire or depressing it seems, keep going. Do you have any idea how unnerving it was being one of the ring leaders in the draft effort waiting until the week of candidate filing for Bill to announce? Can you imagine what might have happened if we got discouraged and ended it by February?
- Bring as many people in as possible-Remember, you have to start locally. But once you've done that and built a local base for the effort you can and should try to reach out to anyone who's willing to listen and might potentially help. As I said, Bob started the effort, but he had no problem bringing me and John Samuelsen in to form a sort of Three Musketeers organization. Each of us brought something to the table that helped and we tended to balance each other out. I can't sit still and was constantly wanting to do something knew; John always had ideas to bring to the table and was far more temperant than I am; Bob had contacts close to Halter that John and I didn't and was happy to relay the ideas the three of us came up with to them. It worked great. But it didn't stop there. We blogged on dailykos and got Halter attention here. We got some great help from the folks at Progressive PST with a twitter campaign back when I didn't know what twitter was. After awhile, the thing got so big that it wasn't just a draft effort, it was a movement that frankly, blew our minds as we saw it unfold. In short, everyone brings something to the table. Use whatever you can to make your draft effort succeed.
- Reach out to your candidate-If you want your candidate to run, make sure he or she knows that you want them to. As I said, Bob had some contacts close to Halter, so they were aware of what we were doing from the start, but it's not enough for them to know that there's a draft effort in existence. You have to do something that will make them stop and say, "My God, all these people actually believe in me and want me to do this for them!" The way we did that was with a mass phone bomb. We got everyone on the facebook page to call Halter's campaign office to ask him to run. I posted the announcement on Blue Arkansas as well and the damn thin went viral on us! People I didn't know were calling and emailing me to say they had participated. We actually picked a day with two really young staffers were the only ones working having been snowed in at the office and by the time I got my phone call in you could tell those kids were having a blast! I made the remark that I was sure they had twenty phone calls before me and the kid I was talking to interrupted to say "More." More than anything, I'm convinced that those phone calls convinced Bill to jump in. And you know what? Doing something like that seems to make your candidate better in some way. It was pretty obvious from talking to him over the course of the campaign that Bill was humbled by all those people calling and asking him to run. He brought it up again and again over the course of the campaign and his eyes lit up everytime he talked about it. It sounds sappy, but I really think it struck him that there were so many people willing to believe in him and that it served to remind him that, as a public servant, his job was to work for us. That's not to say it will do that with every politician of course; there are plenty out there who are about themselves first and foremost. But if your candidate is worth drafting, I'd bet such an outpouring of support would touch them in some way, improving your chances of getting them to run and helping to make sure they'll know who they're accountable to.
I'll close by sharing a story and making a point. When I went to netroots nation after the campaign had ended, a lot of folks would light up when they found out I was from Arkansas and, before they asked or said anything, I always said, "Yeah, we tried." Well I said that to Chris Bowers while I was waiting to talk to Alan Grayson and his reply struck me. He said "No, you succeeded. The derivatives legislation is worth passing now." You'll recall that Lincoln strengthened that component of Wall Street Reform to stave off her challenge from Halter and once it was in the bill there was no taking it out, no matter how much the banks or their bought politicians, including Lincoln herself, wanted to. Now here's the thing on that. Lincoln worked to pass that legislation because she was being challenged by Bill Halter. Halter ran because a bunch of people got together and begged him to. Those people were able to come together because some guy named Bob in Little Rock started a facebook page. That means Bob took on the wealthiest and most powerful people on Wall Street and won. How awesome a story is that?! And you know what, he's not the only one who could do it. You want to change this country and this world for the better? Do it. You do have the power.