Winning Your Election the Wellstone Way: A Comprehensive Guide for Candidates and Campaign Workers

As the 2008 presidential race dominates political discussion and media coverage worldwide, thousands of lesser-known local contests are being hard-fought in our neighborhoods, cities, and states. Winning Your Election the Wellstone Way is based on the work of Wellstone Action, a leading-edge progressive training center that has instructed thousands of political activists, campaign managers, and volunteers, of whom more than two hundred have gone on to run for office and win. Jeff Blodgett and Bill Lofy analyze the crucial lessons learned from many successful (and several losing) campaigns and demystify what it takes to run for—and win—a political seat.

Ben Goldfarb is director of training programs at Wellstone Action. In 2006, he was campaign manager for Senator Amy Klobuchar, and most recently he served as strategic research and communications consultant for the main opposition party in the 2007 Irish Parliamentary Elections. In 2004, he was the get-out-the-vote director for the Kerry-Edwards campaign in Minnesota. He also served as executive director of Progressive Minnesota, managed the Benanav for Saint Paul Mayor campaign in 2001, and helped lead a public employee union’s electoral program in 2002.