LI’s Future Candidate School Trains Emerging Conservative Candidates
You don’t have to be seasoned politician to win.  With proper training and a plan in place, anyone can learn the tools to win.


Most beginners struggle with the basics and make common mistakes.  There are ways to avoid these mistakes, but it takes learning from the veterans who have been through it all before.  It takes training.

Bill Taylor has been a South Carolina State Representative since 2010 and credits Leadership Institute’s (LI) training for his campaign success.  “I defeated the eight-year incumbent 57% to 43%,” Bill said.  “My campaign success was fueled by enrolling in LI’s Future Candidate School.  It was a most valuable experience.  LI smoothed our political road to success.”

In April 2015, LI trained 48 attendees from 17 states and Canada at the Future Candidate School.  They learned from veteran candidates and campaigners how to put together a future campaign and win.

Douglas Arnold of Maryland said the April training taught him “excellent essential information for creating a winning campaign theme and strategy.”

Past graduates of the Future Candidate School have gone on to win their elections.

“This was my first time running for office, and it was against a political veteran,” said New Mexico State Representative Alonzo Baldonado.  “It was a tough race, but LI gave me the education needed to run a successful campaign.”

The school also trains attendees how to define and polish their message, build strong grassroots support, raise funds, and develop the attributes of effective candidates.

 

Theresa, another attendee of LI’s April Future Candidate School said, “I wish I could teleport the people in my area down here for these classes so they could stop blaming each other for conservative losses, and actually know how to start running winning campaigns. #winningby workingtogether”

 

Each day of the Future Candidate School features one of Morton Blackwell’s Laws of the Public Policy Process. 

Day 1:  “Sound doctrine is sound politics.”

Successful candidates must define themselves to the public before their opponents do, so attendees learn to develop and effectively communicate an engaging message.

Day 2:  “Build a secure home base.”

The second day of training teaches future candidates how to join coalitions and build organizations.  Each attendee learns the basics of building contact networks, working with existing factions, and starting new groups.

Day 3:  “You can’t save the world if you can’t pay the rent.”

To survive, a campaign must be funded.  On the third day, attendees learn the techniques of effective fundraising.  Fundraisers from around the movement come together to show candidates how to put together successful fundraising events and persuade high dollar donors to fund your campaign.

Day 4:  “Personnel is policy.”

A campaign is only as good as the people it hires.  In order to form the right team, you have to understand what kind of personnel you should have around you, and the structure the campaign will have in order to win.  The school puts together those pieces for candidates and shows them the best way to organize a campaign.

The Real Nature of Politics states, “Being right, in the sense of correct, is not sufficient to win.  The winner in a political contest is determined over time by the number and effectiveness of activists on the respective sides.” 

Leadership Institute graduates know how to win.

You can become a Leadership Institute graduate.  There’s another chance to learn how to become a successful future candidate at LI’s last Future Candidate School of 2015, and also learn how to run a winning campaign at the Campaign Management School.

Before you even start putting your campaign together, you have to ask yourself, should you be a candidate?  Some candidates get into the race without answering this question and are blindsided. 

Capitol Hill veteran Steven Sutton addresses this question every year with activists who want to get more involved in politics.  On Tuesday, July 14, 2015, Steven discusses what it takes to run for office during LI’s FREE live webinar, fittingly titled Should You Be a Future Candidate?  Watch the webinar here.

The Leadership Institute offers over 44 types of training programs, working with more than 1,582 conservative student groups, and helping employers connect with conservative jobseekers.  Since the Institute’s 1979 founding, LI has trained more than 165,206 conservative activists, students, and leaders.  Graduates include members of Congress, state legislators, local officials, media personalities, and conservative organization leaders.  For more information, please visit: www.LeadershipInstitute.org.

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