VENTURA : Soviets Receive Campaigning Tips
Picture 90 Soviet leaders gathering in Moscow for a three-day workshop on how to campaign for an election--American-style.
“Every five minutes, someone was saying it’s incredible that we’re even doing this,” said Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura), chairman of the National Republican Institute for International Affairs, which sponsored the workshop. U.S. political experts taught the workshops.
Lagomarsino, who returned from Moscow on Monday, said the 90 Soviet participants were coached on everything from how to use political polls to how best to appear on television.
“Most of them were interested in how they could get rid of this guy or that guy,” Lagomarsino said. “Or they wanted to know how to communicate with voters and how to get on television.”
He said they had little experience dealing with a multi-party democracy, and the workshops were designed to give them the “nuts and bolts” of the democratic party system.
The institute, an arm of the National Endowment for Democracy, has sponsored similar workshops in other emerging democracies worldwide, he said.
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