Field Training Field Report

Currently, I'm sitting between George and Matt Glazer at a training session on field ops. Presenting are Kirk McPike, recently of Dallas Sheriff Lupe Valdez's office and a chief hand in the storied Dallas County coordinated campaign, and Brian Pendleton, a TDP field representative for the DNC. They are both all-around All-Stars.

I think that I tend to forget this when I'm not actually in a convention, but I enjoy the convention atmosphere. It could just be that I really like talking shop with other Democrats. The conventions for sub-groups like the Young Democrats usually have a lot of training sessions along with the requisite caucus meetings, committee meetings, and the always popular and never-ending platform committee.

During the Texas Young Democrats convention earlier this year, I taught a workshop on coalitions. I thought, observing the workshops going on around me, that the breadth and depth of the training available was pretty impressive. Here, at the national convention for the Young Democrats, they've got every topic from climate change to field operations, from new media to fundraising for young candidates.

(As an aside, Kirk McPike doesn't like paid blockwalkers. For your reference.)

This convention has drawn young Democrats from all over the world. In this room are people from Texas (obviously), Kansas, Georgia, Alabama, Brazil, Sweden, and England, among others. I like the idea of the Democratic Party being on the forefront of issues, part of a positive global agenda with which young people (and thus, young voters) connect.

It is encouraging to see this. I know this isn't the first convention at which young progressives have been trained to organize and recruit other progressives or to turn out the Democratic vote, and it won't be the last, but it is nevertheless nice to see.