Al Williams, II - Georgia
June 23rd, the long awaited date had arrived. The Yes We Can campaign training was finally ending and everyone was eager to jump into a new career. While majority of the participants were packing up and preparing to go to the airport. I was already packed, on the edge, eager to get back to work as the statewide field coordinator of a Lieutenant Governor's campaign in Georgia. I was willing and ready to apply all of the tactics and strategies I learned over those strenuous nine days of non-stop training, working and networking. The wealth of knowledge and contacts we received at the campaign training in Washington D.C. was just as valuable and significant as the past five years of my experience of a campaigner or political consultant.
Lewanna, Nate, Brian (my fellow Yes We Can classmates) and I boarded the airplane together a few hours later, still elated and in raptures, as we laughed and reminisced about our good times and bad times throughout the training. As we took our seats and continued to recall our personal experiences, a man, sitting in the same row as Lewanna and I, overheard us. He smiled and humbly introduced himself as Mr. Perkins. He began to tell us some of his stories of hard work, hardships and heartbreaks on the campaign trail. Mr. Perkins, just so happen to be Mayor James Perkins Jr., the only African American mayor elected in Selma, Alabama, the historical city that played a vital role in the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. On June 23, somewhere in the air between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia, Mayor Perkins left some advice with me that I'll never forget. He stated, "In electoral politics there are wins, losses, and lessons but sometimes the losses and the lessons are the most important and life changing."
As we arrived back to Atlanta Hartsfield Airport, I had new ideas and great advice, but I also knew I had to hit the ground running. Greg Hecht, then candidate for Georgia's Lt. Governor primary election, also my boss, was expecting me to meet him and the rest of our senior staff that evening in Savannah, Georgia. Five hours south of the airport in Atlanta.
It was in Savannah less than 24 hours after the training ended, I strongly requested some changes within our field and finance strategies. Changes, in which, I had recently learned by participating in the Yes We Can campaign training. Changes, in which, I knew would bring about a positive affect within our field strategy and enhances that would help recruit volunteers and small donors through our finance strategy. Changes such as, merging our field and candidate schedules to increase the amount of swing voters contacted and swayed in swing voter precincts, as well as increasing the number of automated calls made while expanding the time length in which we made them. Last, but not least I demanded for an immediate increase in communication with local African American elected officials in rural areas. Greg Hecht and the campaign welcomed these new ideas and we went on to finish the primary three weeks later with 39% of the vote and forced a Democratic Primary Runoff Election.
During our training, we were able to go over details of all aspects of campaigns and electoral politics. We had opportunities to create our own ideas and discuss these ideas with well-respected trainers. I personally obtained a better understanding of a plethora of detailed campaign tactics and strategies in which I will be putting to use "Right Here! Right Now! And in the Future!"
