I enjoyed an interesting conversation this weekend at the DFL inaugural ball with Mary Cathryn Ricker, the current 30-something president of the St Paul Federation of Teachers, and Liz Rose, the daughter of Minneapolis Federation of Teachers past president Bob Rose.
Listening to stories of the past and of the future, I was struck by the juxtaposition of old-school and contemporary politics. It sounds like Mary Cathryn relied primarily on the tried-but-true method of actually going out to schools & meeting with teachers to introduce herself and ask for their vote. Although she was up against two older, more experienced (male) opponents, she won just by getting her ideas and her self out there. I think it's great that such old-school politics worked to elect the younger candidate. (The more things change... the more they stay the same... :)
The pundits are saying that the 2008 presidential campaign will involve the Internet and other new ways of reaching voters more than ever before - it will be interesting to see what the results of that shift will be!
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