A lot of first-time candidates are wary of "messaging" because it sounds like spin. It is not. It is excavation. You already have a value system, a set of problems you have lived or witnessed, and a perspective that is uniquely yours. The intake process is about getting that out of your head and onto paper in a form that is clear enough to repeat and compelling enough to land with a stranger.

Progressive candidates keep losing the education debate, not because voters disagree with them, but because they are using the wrong words. Here is what the data says and how to fix it.