Phone Interview by Dave Sagarin With Dave Mills - June 25, 2004

We noticed that there is a mention on Keith Boykin's blog [blocked for now] thanking the Al Weed campaign for their help, and we wondered how that came about?

Well what happened was, Charles Hornbostel [a volunteer with the Weed campaign] was walking on the mall that afternoon [Monday, June21] and saw all the activity and stopped and was talking to some of them. And he got into a conversation with Keith, and kind of liked what he was saying, and he told Keith about the Weed campaign, and Keith liked what he was hearing. So Charles said, you know, is there anything we can do to help? and Keith said it would be good if he had some help handing out his flyers. Now meanwhile Dan Milstein had been talking with Lisa Witter, and I think there was another candidate people were talking to.

So people from the [Weed campaign] office went over to the mall, and helped hand out the flyers for two or three of the candidates. I saw it as an opportunity, maybe if we helped them we could get a mention and a link on their blogs or something, some national exposure for our campaign.

Well, do you think the American Candidate is just entertainment or do you think there's an educational component to it?

[Thoughtful pause] I don't know. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it's produced and edited and presented. They are saying that when the show airs it will definitely be targeted to [young people] a demographic that is not presently voting in large numbers.

Do you think it will have an impact with that group?

I guess we really won't know--I mean, if in some swing state there will be thousands of votes that determine the election and they wouldn't have been there if …?

But this could be just the first time--I mean, they should continue this, in presidential years and maybe in off-year elections. If they stay true to [what I think is] their mission to focus on issues, then it could be a good thing.

I think from what I've seen the candidates are doing a good job talking about issues--I've had conversations with some of them, and they do seem very educated about the issues they are running on. [For example] Keith Boykin was able to produce all kinds of facts and statistics, he's very knowledgeable.

I do think that the more serious the candidates appear [when the show airs] the more benefit there will be [for the political process].

-Dave Mills, Campaign Manager, Al Weed 2004