Winning Connections won more awards for live telephone campaigns than any other firm at the recent American Association of Political Consultants’ (AAPC) 2008 Pollie Awards. The AAPC is the world’s largest organization of political and public policy professionals and the Pollie Awards are widely acknowledged as the “Oscars of political consulting.”

“We’re pleased to be recognized for innovative programs for elected officials and organizations leading the charge on progressive reform,” said Winning Connections President John Jameson. “These clients won the closest US Senate race in the country, passed historic environmental legislation, and shifted the national health care dialogue.”

Goings on at Winning Connections

Ari Appel is now Winning Connections’ Vice President of Innovation, in charge of making the firm’s voter contact programs more effective. Ari has designed dozens of voter contact programs for major interest groups, as well as campaigns at the local, state and federal level. Ari previously graduated from Harvard College and worked for America Coming Together.

Winning Connections welcomes Regina Fiorentini as our new Political Director. Regina most recently worked on the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign. Her seven years of experience running field operations for campaigns like Whitehouse for Senate, Knowles for Senate and the coalition that defeated three anti-union ballot measures in California, will be a huge asset to our clients.

Association News

Heidi Ecker , Vice President for Government Affairs, has recently developed membership activation programs for the American Nurses Association, American Physical Therapy Association, and the American Osteopathic Association. “Our clients from a number of industries are celebrating a wealth of grassroots success – be it advocate recruitment, grassroots communications or policy outcomes,” says Heidi.

Personal Pitch

One of my closed friends, Michael Skelly, is running for Congress in Houston. Michael and I bonded in our first year at Harvard Business School in1989 when we realized we were, to say the least, a bit to the left of the typical b-school student,. He has the perfect profile to turn his red seat blue. Michael’s record building a small wind farm company into a billion dollar company plays well in Texas. He raised over $700,000 in the first quarter (possibly the most in the country for a challenger), and he has a real shot. Check him out at www.skellyforcongress.com.