by Jake Levy-Pollans

One of the jobs of campaign staffers and volunteers across Minnesota throughout February and March is to attend county or senate district conventions on behalf of their candidates. These conventions are a crucial stage in the endorsement process where folks select a group of delegates to represent their community at the DFL State Convention in late April.

Let's be honest, if not for these conventions there are other things I could be doing with my Saturday mornings (hint: sleep.) But the truth is while I often walk into these conventions a bit tired, waiting for the morning jolt of coffee to kick in, I always leave them energized.

Convention goers tend to be outgoing people, many of them walk in the doors undecided and truly interested in talking with campaigns and neighbors as they decide whom to support.

And I love it. One of my favorite parts of the job are those intense one-on-one conversations when people ask me about Matt's position on No Child Left Behind and marriage equality and why he is the most electable candidate. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there are a lot of great candidates in this race, and this campaign isn't going to be easy. But every time a conversation ends with a delegate saying "Matt sounds like a compelling candidate" I get a bit more energized, a bit more excited and a lot more optimistic about our state's future.

Do you have a convention coming up? Not sure about Matt? Not sure about any of the candidates? Don't be shy, come up to the Entenza table and ask the hard questions, tell us what you care about and what this election means to you. We don't bite but we do love to chat.