Harvey Milk: Ten Ways to Win an Election

Published November 25, 2008 @ 03:25AM PT

Milk quote 4 This might be a bit dated, but there are still some lessons to be learned from the way Harvey Milk won elections. The ultimate community politician, Milk showed a tenacity for organizing, and an intensity toward campaigning. Harvey jotted down these ideas shortly after he was elected as a Supervisor in San Francisco (these are recorded below as Harvey wrote them).

1. Interviews with all major papers. [All was underlined three times on Harvey's list.]

2. Knock on all doors.

3. Ride buses.

4. Visit non-gay bars during the daytime and any singles bars at nite.

5. Coffee shops and restaurants. Stop off early in morning and late at night.

6. Shake hands.

7. Shake hands.

8. As few meetings as possible - just meet the people.

9. Door to door of registered Demo's is very best thing you can do outside of media coverage.

10. Don't stop.

My favorite part of the above? Number eight. Just meet the people. That's what community-driven politics are all about.

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Michael is the Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and previously was Communications Director for Pax Christi USA, a progressive Catholic human rights organization.