Since the start of the month, Arshad Hasan, the executive director for Democracy for America, a major political action committee that supports the Democratic Party, has traveled hundreds of miles endorsing 118 candidates nationwide.
On Wednesday, Hasan campaigned for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elaine Marshall in the Pit. The Daily Tar Heel talked to him about his career and involvement in this year’s elections.
How has your previous work with special interest groups helped you with working with the Democracy for America?
I really distinguish the special interest from the public interest. The public interest really serves the greater society while the special interest is a particular narrow group of people.
Our members take votes on what they think are the most important issues and then we work on those issues. Last year, it was health care. This year one of the main issues that we are working on is social security.
How do you help potential candidates who are endorsed by the group?
We do training to find out what is the most effective way to contact voters, how do a mailing list, how to do fundraising. We want to build a progressive infrastructure, and that means we need people that understand how to run campaigns.
How would you try to manage all the campaigns currently going on the Pit for Homecoming?
Putting up signs is one of the least productive ways to run a campaign, but it is what most people do. If I had to do a quantitative analysis of which person running for homecoming queen had the biggest sign, there would be no correlation between the votes.
