Various Campaigns, Various Duties
President Clinton at a rally for Al Gore and other Democratic candidates at the Los Angeles–area Baldwin Hills Mall, in 2000. As a lead volunteer, I worked crowd-control in cooperation with an “army” of uniformed Secret Service agents. Click image to enlarge.
Although I had previously donated some opposition research databases to gubernatorial and presidential campaigns, beginning in the pivotal year of 1998 — as the president was on the verge of being impeached — I became active as a volunteer in various local to national Democratic political campaigns.
Among the campaigns I have supported with my energies and talents (as well as monies) have been those of President Barack Obama, Sen. John Kerry, Vice President Al Gore, President Bill Clinton, Gov. Gray Davis, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Rep. Adam Schiff, congressional and assembly candidate Barry Gordon, state Senator and Assemblyman Jack Scott, Assemblywoman Carol Liu, and assembly candidate Kelly Hayes-Raitt.
In addition to other efforts highlighted in this Political Research & Campaigning section as well as my numerous political writings — distributed widely, in a wide variety of media — here are some of the duties I have performed for various campaigns:
- Compiled demographic reports and conducted opposition research for state assembly campaign.
- Served as a top volunteer in historically successful (1998) California gubernatorial campaign.
- Earned positions of trust, handling sensitive correspondence and large sums of money.
- Performed a great variety of administrative and promotional duties, as a lead volunteer, in office and field.
- Videotaped campaign message and events, as with public figures.
- Dealt professionally with business leaders, Hollywood celebrities, and a president of the United States.
By the way, by being involved in Democratic politics I have been carrying on a tradition going back to the turn of the previous century, when my Great-Grandfather Henry Winter, a German immigrant who had escaped the “military madness” of the Prussian rulers, stumped the countryside for and attended Democratic national conventions in support of presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. Although the fiery orator was later known more for his anti-evolution prosecution in the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial, the populist Midwestern congressman and later U.S. secretary of state was supported by my great-grandfather and millions of other small farmers as well as city factory workers for his speaking up for the rights of working people — what motivates me in politics perhaps more than anything else. As history’s first lawgiver, Hammurabi, put it: Laws exist “so that the strong shall not oppress the weak.” To me, nothing is more American — more just — than that.
The family of my Great-Grandfather & -Grandmother Winter, whose centennial in America was featured in the 1971 Academy Award®–nominated Documentary (Short Subject), The Numbers Start With The River, co-produced by the United States Information Agency.
“Douglas Drenkow has been a superstar ... at Californians for Gray Davis. He [has] ... a great work ethic. He understands that no job is unimportant, because everything helps the group reach the desired goal. ... He is very friendly and polite, and always treats everyone with respect.”
— Adam Seiden, Finance, The Historically Successful 1998 Gray Davis for Governor Campaign
