79 JFK AND BEYOND

Blodgett Does Elections the Wellstone Way

The Bulletin last spoke with Jeff Blodgett MPA 1998 for the spring 2003 issue about his work to establish Wellstone Action, which carries on the legacy of Blodgett’s former boss, friend, and professor U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, who died in October 2002. Since the 2004 election season is starting to heat up, we thought we’d check in to see how the organization was doing.

What’s your main goal at Wellstone Action?
Our main goal this year is to train large numbers of people to be active in political and public life. At Camp Wellstone, we feature a two-and-a-half-day, non-partisan training session with three tracks: one for candidates running for office, another for people interested in managing political campaigns, and another for citizen activists who are passionate about various issues.

How many people have you trained at Camp Wellstone, and what do you teach them?
We’ve trained more than 3,000 political activists, campaign workers, and candidates all over the country, from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, to Tampa, Florida. We’ve tried to give them the model of political action that Wellstone practiced. That includes combining the tactics of community organization with grassroots political campaigns, using large numbers of people, and having a conversation on a mass scale with voters.

Visit www.wellstone.org for more information about Wellstone Action.