Wednesday packed with classes

This conference has so far been three full days of intense learning from some impressive, knowledgeable people.

Three of us skipped breakfast this morning and headed "off campus." My roommate woke me at 6 am, we hurried out the door to Capitol Hill where Congressman Duncan Hunter welcomed my roommate and the two of us that he brought along. Uncomfortable, stuffy situation where he invited donors to the Capital Hill Club to meet his son who is running for his seat. From there, I hurried back to get to class by 9 am via Metro.

Something that has been intimidating is how much money is required to run for office. I would say that I am presently feeling more comfortable with fundraising techniques. The school has done a good job sharing information on this. The first class of the day was a good class on fundraising. Then a class on hosting events. A class about Silent Auction. Lots of books given to us after the class. Lots of books have been given to us every day. It looks like I will literally have no fewer than 30 new books when I leave here. The head of the school stresses reading. Something good to have stressed. He downs 3 books/week. A lecture on that was the first that we had upon coming here. A man spoke about sending out direct mail. A lawyer spoke about the legalities of forming different organizations for political purposes. Finally a man came to talk about how to communicate to an audience better.

Short 20, or so, minute breaks for lunch and dinner. Intense.

Following the conclusion of the class, a group of the Ron Paul folks here went out for a beer to talk about our planned Paul-platformed runs.

After that we, came back to our room to write out about 80 thank you notes that we'd asked for this afternoon. As a way to show our appreciation for the classes that we've been taking, at very low cost, four of us wrote handwritten thank you notes to about 80 donors to the school that we are attending.

This has essentially been a typical day. It's late now and I want to process another chapter of one of those books and to get to bed so that I can be fresh for class tomorrow. A good day to you all.

Allan
in Arlington, VA