You want to make a difference. So, you protest, you march, and you vote. But is it time to take the next step and run for yourself? If you’ve been thinking “not yet” through 2017 and 2018, NOW is the time to get started for 2019, or even for 2020! It’s never to soon to get started.

In this episode of the Election University Podcast, our host Jason Bennett talks with Dean Nielsen of Cerillion N4 Partners about preparing to run for office. They talk list-building, storytelling, stump speeches, fundraising, and more on this informative and inspiring episode. Tune in for practical tips and tricks that will save you time and money on the campaign trail. Get organized, and ready, set, run! Dean Nielsen is a principal at Cerillion N4 Partners. Cerillion is a national political consulting firm that works in more than 37 states, in races from Congressional to City Council. Previously, Dean served as the National Political Director for Progressive Majority. He also founded the Institute for a Democratic Future to recruit and train the progressive policymakers of our future.

You can access some of Cerillion’s free resources, like the Quick Start Guide to Winning your Election and the Photo Guide to Win Votes on the Cerillion N4 Partner's website here. You can read more about the study out of Princeton that found that snap judgments determined election outcome with 70% accuracy here. You can find more campaign resources and information at Wellstone.org.

Listeners, we want to hear from you! Are you preparing to run? What did you think of our guide? First-time candidates, what do you wish you had known before you dropped your name in the hat? What topic should we tackle next? We want to know! Send us an email at podcast@electionu.com or leave us a note or a review in the comment section below. You just might be the next guest on the Election University podcast!

You can listen to the show right here on the EU website or by subscribing in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, and more! If you do subscribe, please leave us a rating and review. We love the feedback and we read every one! If you'd like to hear a particular topic on our podcast, please email podcast@electionu.com. As always, thanks for listening!

Will running for School Board cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars or just 15 hours of doorbelling? How hard is it, really, to run for office, and why the heck should you do it? If we scared you far, far away from running for office in our episode with Los Altos School Board President Sangeeth Peruri, here’s an episode that might lure you back into the fold.

On this week’s episode of the Election University podcast, we take a look at another candidate who’s breaking the traditional mold of higher office. Jill Barrett is a clinical social worker at the Department of Defense, owner of a psychology private practice, mom, and Borough of Interlaken School Board Member. Jill is exceptionally qualified to work on her local school board, and was appointed to the Board in the fall of 2016. Our hosts Jason Bennett and Reiny Cohen get the scoop on Jill’s appointment and the surprising campaign to retain her seat. Tune in, listeners; you might just be inspired to run for yourself!

Tell us what you think about this week’s episode! And listeners, we want to hear more of your campaign stories—nightmares, successes, and everything in between! Send us a message detailing your favorite and least favorite memories on the campaign trail. Or tell us what made you decide to run—or what’s holding you back? What topic should we tackle next? We want to know! Send us an email at podcast@electionu.com or leave us a note or a review in the comment section below. You just might be the next guest on the Election University podcast!

You can listen to the show right here on the EU website or by subscribing in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, and more! If you do subscribe, please leave us a rating and review. We love the feedback and we read every one! If you'd like to hear a particular topic on our podcast, please email podcast@electionu.com. As always, thanks for listening!

In Episode 23, our hosts talk with Brendan Tobin, Head of Growth for ECanvasser. 

You can listen to the show right here on the EU website or by subscribing in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, and more! If you do subscribe, please leave us a rating and review. We love the feedback and we read every one! If you'd like to hear a particular topic on our podcast, please email podcast@electionu.com. As always, thanks for listening!

 If you had just three minutes to outline your campaign’s message and win over critical votes, would you be prepared? What if you were standing in front of a hostile crowd, all eyes on you? If your best strategy is to imagine your audience in their pajamas and crack a few jokes, you probably aren’t as prepared as you think. In this episode of the Election University podcast, our hosts Jason Bennett and Reiny Cohen speak with expert speechwriter Eric Liu to help you craft an excellent stump speech.

Our guest Eric Liu is a former speechwriter and policy advisor to Bill Clinton. He has written seven books, including bestsellers The Gardens of Democracy, True Patriot, the Accidental Asian, You’re More Powerful Than You Think, and Guiding Lights. He is the founder and CEO of Citizen University, an organization dedicated to fostering active citizenship through activism, communication, and education. He is also the Executive Director of the Aspen Citizenship and American Identity program. Eric has hosted two TED Talks, “There’s No Such Thing as Not Voting” and “Why Ordinary People Need to Understand Power.”

You can find out more about Eric and his work with Citizen University here. You can keep up with Eric on Linkedin here or on twitter @ericpliu.

So, what did you think, listeners? Are you standing in front of the mirror practicing your speech right now? Are you thinking strategy and objectives with your stump speeches? Let us know! And this week, we don’t just want to know your thoughts the episode—we want to hear them! This week, we are asking for voice recordings of your stump speech, or your questions and comments on the episode in audio format! In two minutes or less, record your campaign message and send it to podcast@electionu.com. We can’t wait to hear from you!

As always, you can listen to the show right here on the EU website or by subscribing in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, and more! If you do subscribe, please leave us a rating and review. We love the feedback and we read every one! If you'd like to hear a particular topic on our podcast, please email podcast@electionu.com. As always, thanks for listening!

In today's 21st Episode, we discuss two new features of the Election University website: a free jobs board and a free vendor list. It will always be free to post jobs and always free to access them. We will also require employers to list a salary range for the jobs they post - no more "depending on experience" vagueness! We pre-loaded our jobs board with more than 300 jobs across the country (sadly some of these do not include salary, but any new postings will be required). It's easy to search, easy to post, and easy to apply. To get started with posting a job, click here. 

For our vendor list, we detail what it means to earn an "EU Certification" as a political vendor. We combed through thousands of pages of campaign finance/compliance documents and pulled together vendors who have worked on at least three campaigns over at least two cycles. We are building this list out everyday but we've started with printers, mailhouses, and pollsters. We'll be adding other categories and certifying other vendor profiles daily...so please check back often. To create your own vendor profile, click here.

In addition to our two new features, we also highlight our other free tools: a campaign cybersecurity ebook, a Code of Conduct template, and an Employee Contract template. Inspired by our great interviews with Benjamin Caudill of Rhino Security Labs in Episode 3 and Jessica Patterson of The Purple Campaign in Episode 13, these are great starter tools to increasing your campaign and personal safety, plus keeping your staff, volunteers, and yourself protected by clear guidelines on what is acceptable behavior and what is expected on a campaign. Click here to download your free templates!

What do you think of the new tools? Are we missing a feature you'd like added? Let us know! Email us at podcast@ElectionU.com or leave a note in the comment section below.

You can listen to the show right here on the EU website or by subscribing in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, and more! If you do subscribe, please leave us a rating and review. We love the feedback and we read every one! If you'd like to hear a particular topic on our podcast, please email podcast@electionu.com. As always, thanks for listening!

When you think about the “political condition of the Ocean State,” you probably think about a whole lot of blue. Rhode Island is one of the most Democratic states in the nation, and is represented nationally by a very blue slate of Democratic legislators. It probably comes as no surprise, then, that today’s podcast out of Rhode Island is courtesy of a feminist, pro-choice, art advocacy group. But what might shock you is that despite this Democratic representation, Rhode Island received an F-rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America. Rhode Island Pro-Life has endorsed 38% of the state’s Democratic representatives. Should Roe v. Wade be overturned federally, the right to an abortion in Rhode Island would be threatened.

On the 20th episode of the Election University podcast, our hosts Jason Bennett and Reiny Cohen investigate the surprising condition of Rhode Island…and how two art advocates are revolutionizing grassroots organizing to change it. From a conversation in the Hera Art Gallery to an international movement, our guests Jordan Hevernor and Jocelyn Foye are using their creativity to change the face of political organizing—and the status of women’s rights in their state.

Are you ready to dive into artivism with The Woman Project? You can learn more and get involved on their website, here. If you are a Rhode Islander, you can sign up volunteer here. You can also participate financially to the Woman Project by donating here. Have questions or want to share your story with The Woman Project? Get in touch here.

And if you are supporting The Woman Project from afar, you can keep up with the Women Project on social media at Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Twitter @WomanProjectHQ.

We want to hear from you, listeners! Have you used art to drive change in your community? How has creativity impacted your political campaign? How are you revolutionizing grassroots organizing in your community? Do you have a project that you’d like to share on the podcast? We want to know about it! Email us at podcast@ElectionU.com or leave a note in the comment section below.

You can listen to the show right here on the EU website or by subscribing in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, and more! If you do subscribe, please leave us a rating and review. We love the feedback and we read every one! If you'd like to hear a particular topic on our podcast, please email podcast@electionu.com. As always, thanks for listening!

This week on the Election University Podcast, our hosts Jason Bennett and Reiny Cohen close down taking the pod on the road to the American Association of Political Consultants’ Pollie Awards in Nashville! Our hosts kick off the final of three episodes at the Pollie’s with the latest segment of Campaign Tools Review. Up this week is CampaignGrid Direct, a voter-targeted digital advertising service. Joining us to discuss this revolutionary tool is Jordan Lieberman, President of Audience Partners Political and Public Affairs and founding partner of CampaignGrid.

In the eight years since joining the targeted advertising space, Jordan has seen the field drastically expand and change. As the cookie-driven advertising world got stronger, Internet providers and web browsers responded with new ad-blocking tools, making advertising increasingly complicated for consumers. CampaignGrid Direct helps navigate the ever-changing world of advertising to provide a self-serve platform for candidates to reach their desired audience, regardless of their location, political affiliation, or the size of their race.

Our hosts will walk us through the CampaignGrid ad-buying process, evaluate the utility of this tool, and work to de-mystify the confusing world of digital advertising. Whether you’re regularly running digital ads for your business, running a campaign, or just wondering how Facebook knows your political interests, this is an episode you won’t want to miss!

You can learn more about Campaign Grid Direct and start sending your ads today at CampaignGriddirect.com. You can also learn more about Jordan and his work at Audience Partners Political and Public Affairs by following him on twitter @Jslieberman or connecting with him on Linkedin.

So listeners, we want to know what you think! Have you used CampaignGrid Direct for your campaign or business? What was your experience? Are you still baffled by the algorithms and art/science of audience-contact? What other tools have you used to reach your voters or consumers? What campaign tool should we review next? Let us know what you are up to and your thoughts about this podcast by emailing us at podcast@ElectionU.com or leave a note in the comment section below.

You can listen to the show right here on the EU website or by subscribing in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, and more! If you do subscribe, please leave us a rating and review. We love the feedback and we read every one! If you'd like to hear a particular topic on our podcast, please email podcast@electionu.com. As always, thanks for listening!

  It’s 5:30 p.m. and you’ve had a long day at work. You are just about to sit down to eat when… the phone rings. It’s a telemarketer, or a political campaign, or a scam caller, and their dialing has disrupted your dinner. It is a scene that we’ve all experienced, and one that usually elicits the most visceral of reactions. But what if that one call meant the difference between winning and losing your election?  For many candidates, phones are the most cost-effective strategy to communicate with hundreds or thousands of voters across their district. And unlike digital or mail advertising, phones are a vehicle for genuine conversation and persuasion. So how does one walk the line between disruptive dialer and campaign-winning communicator?

This week on the Election University Podcast, our hosts Jason Bennett and Reiny Cohen talk robocalls, interactive messaging, telephone town halls, and more with phone strategy extraordinaire Chris Hayler. With more than ten years of experience at Stones’ Phones, Chris is an expert in optimizing automated calling to provide interactive and persuasive conversation. He explains what makes phones effective, common pitfalls of amateur robocallers, and how to make your automated calls less infuriating. Tune in!

You can learn more about Chris Hayler and his work with Stones’ Phones on their website, here. You can keep up with their work by following them on twitter @StonesPhones or on Facebook.

Let us know what you think, listeners! Are you seeing phone callers in a whole new light? Are you going to try out this strategy to get out the vote? Or are you a phone-skeptic? Was your podcast-listening interrupted by a disruptive dialer? We want to know about it! Email us at podcast@ElectionU.com or leave a note in the comment section below.

You can listen to the show right here on the EU website or by subscribing in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, and more! If you do subscribe, please leave us a rating and review. We love the feedback and we read every one! If you'd like to hear a particular topic on our podcast, please email podcast@electionu.com. As always, thanks for listening!

In theory, our democracy is based in representation. But in reality, our government is disproportionally white, straight, and male. According to the Pew Research Center, the 115th Congress is the most diverse in history, with almost one-in-five voting members a racial or ethnic minority. Even so, these numbers are woefully inadequate compared to the actual composition of the nation’s population. But to make progress in governmental representation, we must also have a diverse pipeline that leads to public office. And it does not take long at the AAPC’s Pollie Awards to notice that the broader political sphere lacks diversity.

This week on another LIVE episode of the Election University podcast, our hosts Reiny Cohen and Jason Bennett talk diversity and politics with China Dickerson. China is the Deputy Political Director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Chair of the Young Democrats of America Women’s Caucus, and President of the political strategy firm, Dickerson Strategies. They chat about recruiting and retaining women and people of color to political roles, expanding diversity in leadership, and ways to that our political parties and leaders can #DoBetter to eliminate systemic barriers to greater representation.

You can (try your best to) keep up with China and her work with NARAL Pro-Choice America, Dickerson Strategies, Young Democrats of America, or DC Young Democrats by following her on twitter at @MsChinaD or connecting with her on Linkedin.

So listeners, we want to know what you think! What are you doing in your workplace or political sphere to incorporate more, diverse voices? What do you think must be done to bring more voices to the table in your political party?  How have you seen this industry change in the last decade? Let us know what you are up to and your thoughts about this podcast by emailing us at podcast@ElectionU.com or leave a note in the comment section below.

You can listen to the show right here on the EU website or by subscribing in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, and more! If you do subscribe, please leave us a rating and review. We love the feedback and we read every one! If you'd like to hear a particular topic on our podcast, please email podcast@electionu.com. As always, thanks for listening!