Dukakis Touts Grassroots Angle

Former Mass. Governor Michael S. Dukakis emphasized the importance of grassroots campaign strategies to the future of the Democratic Party during a talk yesterday evening at Harvard Law School.

“I’m here to tell you that if you hope to someday be elected to office, a grassroots approach to campaigning is not just the way that you win elections, but the way that you engage people actively in the politics of your state and country,” said Dukakis, who graduated from the Law School in 1960.

Dukakis, who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988, told the audience that the lack of constituent involvement in current political campaigns will inevitably lead to future Democratic losses.

He said that political consultants are currently too focused on fundraising rather than motivating their grassroots resources.

Dukakis spoke about the use of grassroots campaign techniques during his own campaigns, including visiting every household in Brookline, Mass., during his bid for state legislature in 1962.

Dukakis said he implemented the same technique of directly targeting voters while running for governor by appointing captains in every precinct to personally contact community members in his gubernatorial pursuits.

While Dukakis’s campaigns took place in the years before the advent of new media, he encouraged current politicians to take advantage of the resources provided by new technology.

“There are some things that have made things easier since I was in office, including the internet,” he said. “You won’t get elected over the internet, but it is still an incredible organizing and fundraising tool.”

Many audience members acknowledged that personal interaction between prospective political leaders and constituents will be an important strategy in the upcoming 2010 congressional elections.

“I think that grassroots campaigning is important, and I’m glad that he spoke about it because it’s something that most people don’t talk about with the emphasis on the use of the media in political campaigning,” said John W. He ’13.