Neel Kashkari’s Lessons from the Trail was a great read. As an aspiring political leader, I learned a good deal from his candid remarks. I have a better understanding of what it takes to energize voters and establish name recognition. Here are a few things that we can start working on now.
Kashkari writes, “The hardest part of this campaign was raising money…I did not anticipate the fatigue major Republican donors felt after very well-funded defeats in 2010 and 2012. Indeed many donors have simply given up on California and instead donate to races outside the state, such as for the U.S. Senate.”
Crowdfunding can help with donor fatigue. We can design installment programs instead of asking for a single check. We can create a dashboard indicator that shows donors where every penny of their support is spent, or better yet, let them choose where it is spent. However, Kashkari brought to my attention that we need to attract the “deep pockets” back to California. His first run for Governor is a great way to start this conversation.
Kashkari writes on the subject of rallying the republican base, “My agenda of bringing jobs back to California and fixing the schools absolutely resonated with the base of our party. The issues were there. But I found that I earned their support only once they saw the lengths to which I would go to fight for those issues.”
When Neel Kashkari started living on the streets in Fresno, I knew he could win the Governorship. With only $40 in his pocket, he set out to find a job in a large California city with high unemployment. This endeavor was more than an empathetic learning experience. It was an authentic act of humanity that perfectly embodied his campaign message.
Kashkari writes, “I would recommend running for office to anyone who is interested in public service.” Will do, Neel. Thanks for your leadership.
Thanks for reading my twentieth blog post.
The Republican Millennial
The Republican Millennial 
Reblogged this on Political Pipeline and commented:
LIKE: “I would seek every opportunity to flip the stereotypes of Republicans and Democrats. I would focus on the most important issues that mattered to the widest array of Californians. Given our schools are ranked 46th and jobs ranked 45th, the issues were clear. But I wanted to talk about them in ways not typical for Republicans. Poverty, income in – equality, civil rights, economic opportunity – these are pressing issues in California. Republicans often talk about how our poor economic climate hurts businesses. I wanted to talk about how it hurts working families. I also wanted to talk about education as the fundamental civil rights issue that it is.”