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E J Zipprich & Juanita Lewis for Red Bank Council

West Long Branch Training - April 2008       

We implemented a campaign plan, fundraising plan, field plan, finance plan based on all the DFA Training Academy materials and exercises we learned at the April training in NJ. We won handily...Juanita and I both knew that we needed 2,360 votes each to win our seats on the Council. We bested a sitting GOP incumbent and her running mate with 2,505 for Ed and 2,490 for Juanita to our opponents 1723 and 1933 respectively.           

We won handily thanks to DFA. We couldn't have done this without our friends at DFA in VT and Monmouth for Democracy DFA/PDA and the support of the Red Bank, NJ Dems! Thanks a million - Arshad and crew - You rock!

Walt Chappell, Kansas Board of Education District 8

Kansas City, MO Training - May 2008

In a heavily Republican state, I was the only Democrat in Sedgwick County to win who was not an incumbent. This included all judge, legislative, county commission, sheriff, county clerk and registrar of deed candidates. Learn more about my campaign at http://www.chappell4ksboe.com. Like Obama, I built a broad coalition of Democrats, Republicans and Unaffiliated voters. However, I received 45,251 votes to beat my Republican opponent with less than $11,500 in contributions from 116 small donors. I will be glad to share the details of my winning campaign strategy if it would be helpful to other candidates.           

The DFA training that I received in Kansas City plus the online Night School sessions was practical, effective and presented by people who have actual experience winning elections. My own campaign team was made up of dedicated and determined DFA-Wichita volunteers who gave good advice and worked hard. We created a Message of Change that voters could believe in. I encourage any Democrat who is running a campaign to participate in DFA training if they want to win their election.

Jet Netwal

Orlando, FL Training - May 2008        

I worked to elect Alan Grayson for Congress, FL-8.  Like a lot of people, after the Kerry loss in 2004, I got angry. My immediate outlet was blogging, which helped me plug in politically. In 2006, I got a piece of campaign lit from Alan Grayson, emailed one of my blog-mates (who was also in FL-8) and we decided to interview Alan. By the end of the interview, I was hooked. The idea of getting a progressive of that caliber into my rep's seat was intoxicating. Unfortunately, Grayson lost the primary shortly thereafter. The night of the loss, I emailed him and said, "When you decide to run again, I will work for you". I put up a google alert on Alan, and when I saw he'd declared in August of 2007, I sent an email. We did meetings and DEC's and Clubs and parades, adding more and more staff and volunteers as the months marched by. I began attending Nancy Jacobsen's DFA Meetups, and when she announced an Orlando training session, I knew I had to go. Holy crap, did I learn a boatload! I not only got everything I needed, but I learned lingo, and filled in dozens of blanks on how to get from A to Z. When I staggered out of there Sunday afternoon, I was exhausted, but inside, I felt like a force. That night, I emailed Alan: Thank you SO much for sending me to the DFA training. I learned more than just a few tactics, I got the big picture handed to me in chunks I can envision executing. It's amazing when you step into precisely the right thing at the right moment. This training was like that for me... In July, Alan and I headed for Netroots Nation in Austin. Jay Parmley, one of my trainers in Orlando, was a class act in helping me get a meeting arranged between Alan and Jim Dean. I can't express how wild it was for me, a woman from a little town (pop. 1800) in Florida to sit in on a meeting with a future congressman and a national mover and shaker. I literally pinched myself! I used so much of what I learned from the DFA during the last months of Alan's successful campaign, networking, recruiting volunteers, working PR on the web, and making calls,

We won -- now what? For me, it's precinct building, and I can't wait to get started! If you want to make changes, get trained. If you can run, RUN, but first, get trained. We need Dems to run, we need Dems to help them win, but first and foremost, we need a plan. The DFA training is that plan. Smarter AND harder... wins. It's that simple.

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