32nd Degree Political Geek

Joel Freston Leading a Field Staff Meeting

I've spoken before about Joel Freston. He is the spectacularly effective field director for the McAdam's campaign.

The fact we've developed a burgeoning army of volunteers and interns is in large part due to him. He combines a keen intelligence with a love for retail politics that I've never seen duplicated in another campaign operative.

He's fiercely dedicated to the success of Ben McAdams, he's in love with the principles of the Democratic party and he has a deep faith that every election ultimately depends on calls being made, yard signs going up, literature being distributed, and hands being shaken.

Joel's focus and determination are a force of nature, and if you work for him it can be intimidating because these qualities are almost impossible to equal.

Why? Because they aren't simply the product of his considerable energy, but the consequence of conviction woven in his DNA.

Recently I attended one of his meetings with the field staff. It was a model of brevity as he announced that the corps of volunteers had grown to a point where our office was no longer sufficient.

Starting Monday two new field offices were opening up to accommodate campaign activities in West Valley and North Salt Lake.

You might think this was the moment to relish that achievement - in large part, his achievement. But no, the announcement was simple, blunt and factual. He made more of Ryan exceeding his quota of phone calls than he did a tripling of our volunteer capacity.

Then off he went to party headquarters, and back I went to making phone calls.

A few hours later he floated back into the office, obviously in a state of advanced rapture. He quickly gathered everyone around him for some fabulous announcement, except me. I was still in the middle of a phone call.

"No," he said, "We'll wait, George should hear this."

Finally I was off the phone and ready to hear the big announcement. "You'll never believe what I just saw," he said, "it's called predictive dialing!"

"What?" we thought. Then all of us looked at each other in perfect agreement. If ever there was a 32nd degree political geek, we were standing in his presence.

And isn't it wonderful that he's on our side.