IRI Holds Campaign Staff Training Seminars

July 16, 2006

To help political parties prepare for the October 2006 national elections, the International Republican Institute (IRI) held two-day campaign staff trainings in Sarajevo and Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Organized to train small political parties on basic campaign planning, the seminars helped the parties put together messages and develop overall campaign strategies. During the training, IRI and the national campaign teams focused on the specific needs of each party’s strategy for working with the media, get-out-the-vote, campaign organization, and fundraising. Special attention was also given to grassroots activists, volunteers, coalitions and their role in the implementation of their overall campaign plan.

Participants included the national campaign team and electoral district campaign managers of the Narodna Stranka Radom za Bolijitak (NSRzB), Democratic People’s Union (DNS), New Croatian Initiative/Croatian Party of Rights Coalition (NHI/HSP), and Socialist Party (SP).

The seminar trainers included Steve Edwards, Manager of State Government Affairs and Community Relations, 3M Company; Ron Nehring, Executive Director, Project for California's Future, and Chairman, San Diego County Republican Party; Jamie Sheehan, former Capitol Hill staffer and campaign manager; and Rob Fairbank, former Member, Colorado House of Representatives, and Partner, Politically Direct, a Denver-based political consulting firm.

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