Run Through the Tape!
By Drew McKissick
When you’re just a few days out from an election, it can be tempting to slow down. Everyone is tired and getting burned out. And with early voting stretching out the final push, it can feel like the election will never end. This is when you need to find your second wind and keep up…
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What’s Your WHY?
By Drew McKissick
Why are you involved? What do you care about and why? When you’re involved in politics, one of the most important things that you can do in order to be more successful and have a greater impact on the things that you care about is to know “why”. What’s important? What are you trying to…
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Don’t Quit
By Drew McKissick
What happens when you quit? Nothing. Or at least not anything that you’d want to happen. It’s one of the few guarantees that we have in politics: if you quit, you’re usually guaranteed not to like the results. When you’re not involved, it’s more likely that things will not go your way. You’re giving up…
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How to Manage Political Volunteers
By Drew McKissick
American politics and public policy is moved by its citizens; specifically, ACTIVE citizens. It’s all about people. People work for candidates in their campaigns, cast ballots on Election Day, and then lobby those elected officials to help shape public policy once they get into office. But given that so few people actually do participate in…
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Tips for Running Meetings
By Drew McKissick
You can’t really have much of a political organization without meetings, which means that you need to make sure that the kind of meetings that you have serve the needs and purposes of your group or campaign. But when it comes to typical “meetings”, (whether official group meetings, or project meetings), take time to do…
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Those Who Can, Do
By Drew McKissick
It’s a shame how politics seems to cultivate more people who care about opining, trading rumors and being recognized as a political/social media celebrity, than it does people who are actually experienced and competent at political organization, running campaigns or even serving in public office. We desperately need less of the former and more of…
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Basic Political Negotiation Techniques
By Drew McKissick
Grassroots politics or lobbying isn’t always just about conflict. Sometimes it’s about negotiating and compromise. As Sun Tzu put it, “Better to take all under Heaven intact than to fight”. If you can “win” without having to fight, expend resources, or potentially make enemies that you might need as friends in the next fight, it’s…
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The Most Important Elements of Political Success
By Drew McKissick
Getting involved is one thing. Sticking with it is something else. Over two thousand years ago a Roman general wanted to prove to his soldiers that perseverance in combat was more important than strength. He had two horses brought before his men, one was a healthy stallion and the other was an old nag. He…
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Are You Building the Political Farm Team?
By Drew McKissick
Most every professional baseball player that you see has spent time in the minor leagues before they got a chance to play in the big leagues. Nobody lasts forever, and eventually somebody has to move up and take someone else’s place. It’s why teams spend so much time and money recruiting and developing new talent.…
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Political Resolutions for Conservatives
By Drew McKissick
Sometimes we get so caught up in what’s going on in politics at the moment that we can lose sight of what’s important and what to do next. Don’t let that happen this year. If conservatives are going to be successful in the long-term, then we have to THINK long-term. With that in mind, here…
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