Campaign Boot Camp: Lessons from the Campaign Trail for Candidates, Staffers, Volunteers, and Nonprofits

Attorney, author, and activist Christine Pelosi presents leadership lessons from the campaign trail for anyone who wants to run for office, advocate for a cause, or win a public policy issue. In Campaign Boot Camp: Basic Training for Future Leaders—A 7-Step Guide to Launching Successful Campaigns for Candidates and Causes, Pelosi uses a boot camp model to provide practical advice and “get real” exercises so that individual readers can integrate these leadership lessons into their own public service efforts on political campaigns, ballot initiatives, or non-profit ventures.

Right from the stroller, Christine was campaigning with her mother, Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She has served candidates and party alike, and she knows like few others about the nuts and bolts of winning in politics. Distilling best practices from across the political spectrum, Pelosi shows aspiring leaders how to master the fundamentals of campaigning—management, message, money, and mobilization.

She lays out a 7-step program for effective campaigning at all levels of public service, from community initiatives to congressional races:

1. Identify your call to service
2. Know your community
3. Build your leadership teams
4. Define your message
5. Connect with people
6. Raise the money
7. Mobilize to win

Along the way, Pelosi features successful campaigners with their diverse backgrounds and experiences. Among the public servants and political professionals quoted in the book are: Donna Brazile, David Brock, Willie L. Brown, Jr., Max Cleland, Bill Clinton, Andrew Cuomo, Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr., Rahm Emanuel, Al Gore, Mahatma Gandhi, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kerry Kennedy, Frank Luntz, Ellen Malcolm, Gerald W. McEntee, Markos Moulitsas, Nancy Pelosi, Carl Pope, Bill Press, Ronald Reagan, Ann Richards, Karl Rove, Jack Valenti, Tim Walz, George F. Will, and Jim Zogby. Their writings and practices help make Campaign Boot Camp both a helpful guide to participatory democracy and an inspiring collective memoir.