Rarely do I have to rack what little brain I have to find a song title to make the analogy for my posts.  And it was no different for my post on the Republican Legislative Nominee retreat sponsored by Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman and Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia.

My good friend Jim Brulte, and his guy Jim Richardson, have been organizing this event for most of a decade and while I have had clients go through the seminars, this was the first time I participated both as an organizer and speaker.

Watching Brulte, seeing him work the room, interact with both novice and experienced candidates alike on both policy and politics was like watching a master.  Yes, sometimes you can suck up and be truthful….so here’s my post.

I originally thought about Master of Puppets, but the lyrics are a bit…ah….dark….so scratch that one….Hot for Teacher?….sure they all wanted pictures with the big guy…but my sense was that there was nothing more than professional admiration going on there…so I  Googled on Teacher and sadly found a song by the worst band to come out of England…ever…Jethro Tull…and boom…a title.  

Now on to the substance….McCarthy started off the 48 hours seminar with some good, real world advice about how staying current on the world around you can help you connect (Lee Atwater read National Enquirer, Kevin reads People, I read Us Weekly) with whatever audience you target….and his talk about teamwork so motivated our guys to be a team that our candidates are already sending out group emails to each other on all kids of information from local issues to events they’re hosting.  That’s motivation for ya.

But Brulte was freaking good.  He brought in Genest who proved why he’s in the job of his life (he’s the Director of Finance for you under rock dwellers).  Dunmoyer’s overview of the Governor’s policy initiatives continued to prove that you can not only be the smartest guy in the room, but the classiest as well.  Mercereau and Pettingill gave superp, detailed overviews of the initiatives facing…or potentially facing the voters all the while making my eyes glaze over with information I simply don’t understand (or is that don’t want to?).  Their discussion of the budget process armed our guys with a great foundation of information.

Steve Schmidt was clearly the big hit but his pink shirt clearly the big miss. (just kidding Steve) (not)  But.  His Deputy Strategist Sarah Simmons gave a freaking awesome overview of some of the quantitative research the Governor’s campaign has done.  Not only did she break the “cussing for effect” barrier (which allowed the rest of us to teach using the preferred language of our profession) she proved she’s one smart chick.  She lead, with prodding from yours truly, a killer discussion of words, immigration, and messaging….that for me…was the highlight…but as I say…I didn’t understand the policy guys so maybe that’s not a big deal.  And the interaction between McClintock and the candidates serve as testament to the fact that Tom is one of the most inspiring leaders in our state today.  Tell him thanks here.  

But it was Brulte who was the true Master.  He simply brought a wealth of knowledge, experience, anecdotes, and …yes…humor to what could have been a typical, boring, dry 2 day seminar.  I like Jim a whole lot better now that he’s not Leader…he smiles and laughs a lot more…and that makes him more of an asset to his clients and his friends.  I mean seriously, who else could have created the Copper Mountain Community College District on the advice of a local DJ and get a street named after you? 

As evidence to the success of our discussion about words, winning coalitions and messaging has resulted in some of the most conservative nominees already sending me press releases to ensure their messages are consistent with maximizing their ability to contrast themselves effectively with their extremist, liberal opponents….thanks Jim…I think.

So while I’m sure I’ll regret giving my cell phone number to the nominees, Brulte inspired me to do it…and also to delete the one Jethro Tull song on my son’s I Pod…after all we all need good teachers.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 25th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized.