Journal Tribune's "York County Weekend"
by John Swinconeck, Jul 16, 2005BIDDEFORD- Maine Democratic gadfly Corey Hascall knows it can be tough breaking into a career in politics.
"I graduated with a political science degree, and spent the next four years waiting tables," she said to a class of nine students between the ages of 16 and 35 Friday at Southern Maine Medical Center.
It wasn't until she was hired by Ethan Strimling to be the future Portland state senator's campaign manager that she got her foot in the door. And even after winning a primary she only made $100 a week as manager and still worked a second job.
Hascall and the members of A Rising Tide are trying to smooth the way for others.
A Rising Tide provides leadership training to those who aspire to a political career. The intensive, three-day program, which started in Biddeford Friday, takes students through targeting, message development, field campaigning, fundraising, direct mail and radio and TV usage- in other words, how to run a modern political campaign. By the end of the weekend, students should get enough of an introduction to a campaign so they can join one.
The course gives students a chance to hear from Maine political aficionados, including pollster and professor Chris Potholm, former Governor King spokesman and CasinosNO! organizer Dennis Bailey, and Governor Baldacci's senior policy advisor, Dick Davies.
"It's really focused on Maine as much as we can," Strimling said.
After the course, students must commit to a minimum of five hours a week for eight weeks to a social cause of their choice.
"Eight weeks in a campaign is a lifetime," Strimling said.
He said the non-profit A Rising Tide began a year ago, with the goal of getting young people "energized" about the process.
Friday's session began with a crash course on how to organize a campaign, including pointers on which voters to target and exploiting one side's strengths and the opponent's weaknesses. Always pragmatic, and sometimes cynical, at times the course resembled an episode of "The West Wing."
Several students had their own political aspirations, including Mari-Jo Allen of Arundel, who said she was approached by State Rep. Robert Daigle, a local Republican, to succeed him in the State House.
"I want to fully experience what running a campaign was like," she said.
Teaching a strictly non-partisan course on campaigning might seem counter-intuitive for politicians like Strimling, but this philosophy could help bridge a widening political gap, he said.
"I'm a Democrat through and through," he said. "I believe in Democratic policies. But I learned in my first year in Augusta that it was essential that we learn to talk to each other."
"On the Taxation Committee, I sit next to Sen. Richard Nass. On the political spectrum, we are mirror opposites. But in a year I realized that, although we walk different paths, we want the same results in Maine."
