This Week: The Rise of the Organizer
This week at TPMCafe we'll host a conversation about the rise of the "organizer" in Democratic politics. The Dean campaign and the Netroots, the sudden prominence of the legendary Saul Alinsky, and ongoing conversation about infrastructure and the "50 state strategy." All of it points to a growing small d democratic trend in the big D Democratic Party.
Starting things off will be Marshall Ganz.
Ganz has recently been at the forefront of this trend as an adviser to the Dean Campaign and the DNC (full disclosure: I worked in both cases as a young staffer for those he advised). Before that, he was an organizer in the Civil Rights Movement, a top lieutenant to Caesar Chavez, and a political consultant helping to develop models for electoral organizing around the country. He currently teaches at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
Also joining the Coffee Housers will be Heather Booth, a former DNC Field Director and long-time organizer, and Elana Levin, a younger organizer who works as the Communication Manager for the organizer-friendly think tank Drum Major Institute. Others will also be invited (and I'm certainly open to suggestions).
I've intentionally set only what I think are the outlines of an emerging trend, and it will be up to the writers to do what they will with that premise (including disagree with it). Ganz's post will go up later today or tomorrow morning.
I hope you'll also join in both in the comments and on reader blogs. I'll be more than happy to promote any contributions that are particularly good.
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