Camp Wellstone - Working on a Campaign: Tools & Tactics for Success

February 2007 - St. Paul, MN

Given Carla Pardue's modest political experience before 2006, she decided to attend Camp Wellstone because she thought it was, "a good place to start" her political career.  Carla entered politics after working as a professional meeting planner for most of her professional career.  But before entering the camp Carla said she, "didn't believe she had that much to offer."  However; shortly after that admission she had a sense that the camp, "believed in her" and was able to raise her political confidence. Fast-forwarding to 2009 - capitalizing on confidence from the camp - Carla has successfully combined her vast professional experience and harnessed her knowledge from Camp Wellstone and currently works as a prominent staffer for Senator Al Franken.

Carla said one of the most important lessons she left the camp with was the notion that, "everybody has talent."  This cornerstone gave her the ability to believe in herself and be helpful to others. Belief in herself was made even easier because of the accessibility of each instructor. Because each instructor was so approachable, Carla was able to get all her questions answered during the Camp. Additionally as a self-proclaimed "information junkie" Carla loved the camp lectures and all it had to offer. Carla was able to digest the information and carry it through to her current political career.

While describing her experience attending the camp, Carla, was extremely satisfied that with her extensive professional experience, Camp Wellstone was able to "help others with little political experience" become active in politics.  Carla also stressed the importance of starting from the ground-up.  She advises that anyone entering politics should, "agree to do anything [and] the more that you do, the more you will learn."  And because she attended Camp Wellstone she was given the grassroots knowledge to learn as much as possible because according to Carla every aspect, "all goes into a whole" when it comes to political goals.