Fake DUIs? Must be campaign summer camp

Not as fun as real summer camp: Participants at the Wellstone political camp

By LYNDSEY TETER

Published: Monday, July 21, 2008 2:19 PM EDT Neil Neidhardt has already won an election. Granted, he ran unopposed, but even without a challenger, he nabbed so many votes in the March 4 primary that he's hopeful he can pull off a win in November. Unfortunately, he's also a Democrat running for a county commissioner's seat in Delaware County. Hope may not give him the edge that he needs.

"Initially they told me, ‘You don't stand a chance to win, but we need to put someone on the ballot,'" he said.

That political reality prompted Neidhart to plop down a couple hundred bucks for political summer camp. He was among a few dozen like-minded progressives who signed up for Camp Wellstone, a three-day training program held on the top floor of the Vern Riffe Center last weekend.

"As a totally new person working within a party that has not had a great deal of success in recent years, I really felt I needed a coach," he said.

Sans campfire sing-a-longs or s'mores, Wellstone's political summer camp trains progressive candidates, activists and issues-backers to win elections.

The camp's philosophy aligns with that of its namesake-the late Minnesota U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, who died in a plane crash, along with his wife and daughter, in 2002.

"After his death, 13 days before the election, the campaign staff decided that Paul would have wanted to keep organizing and keep fighting for the little guy," said Peggy Flanagan, a director at Wellstone and an organizer of last weekend's Columbus event.

Since its inception, Camp Wellstone boasts almost 19,000 graduates nationwide, nearly 300 of whom have been elected to public office. Central Ohio's Wellstone success stories include Councilman Andrew Ginther and state Reps Dan Dodd and Jimmy Stewart.

"We have rock concerts and coffee shops," but progressive types "don't have that regular weekly or monthly reminder that we need to be out engaging the community, building our base," said camp participant Dan Coleman, a staff member of Equality Ohio, a GLBT advocacy group. Conservative counterparts utilize institutions like church to organize politically, he said, but for progressives, "It's like herding cats at times."

And for those who are granted the honor to serve, Camp Wellstone prepares candidates for the impending public relations disaster that could follow.

During a special Crisis Simulation Activity-one of more than a dozen training sessions offered-bright future politicos took turns behind a podium, responding to simulated scandals drawn from real-life examples on both sides of the aisle, including DUIs, an excess of parking tickets, questionable political contributions and staffer screw-ups. 

"That was maybe the most interesting part," said Coleman, who learned the sting of being thrown under the bus by a financially-troubled congressional candidate in front of a fake press corps Saturday. In a campaign, "Everybody has their moment."

Neidhart, in the midst of a real-life campaign himself, is hoping to avoid any such moment. Although some would argue there's an inherent political danger in signing up for a how-to class in the middle of the campaign season, Neidhart is not worried that his opponent, former Delaware mayor Tommy Thompson, will make an issue of it.

"I'm not making a political statement. I'm here to learn," Neidhart said. "It's interesting how much time and treasure is spent trying to win a job versus how little is spent trying to figure out what the job involves."