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The Better Business Bureau has just rated him the lowest grade for over-charging customers and for his company being too slow to issue recall notices for products in its Explosive Enterprises division, leading to injury and even death for many, innocent, pureblood wizarding children.

Neville Longbottom. All flash spells, no substance.

He’s a supermodel and TV show host. He’s more concerned with getting his face on TV than facing the problems of District 22.

Luna Lovegood. Too “Loony” for office?

Helps abominations to the wizarding world -- non human creatures and the like. And who can tell what she will think up next?

Cho Chang. No defense against the dark arts?

Chang claims that it’s about wand "safety," but who knows where we’d be if students and teachers hadn’t been able to defend themselves at the Battle of Hogwarts. Would she tell Harry Potter to put down his wand to stop the Dark Lord?

Minerva McGonagall. Torturer?

Rumors of inmate abuse when she served as Azkaban guard. Does she “really” care for all of us?.Just how much did she toughen up as an Azkaban corrections officer where she was accused of using hexes and curses on unwitting prisoners?”

Rubeus Hagrid. Putting students in danger

Endangered students, teachers, and the surrounding neighborhoods when he kept dangerous, endangered, magical creatures in his flimsy shed. He held them illegally and without proper containment facilities. Maybe that’s the truth behind his supposedly "brave" arrest.

Lee Jordan. GASBAG.

He’s been a bloviating gasbag. Now as the self-appointed editor-in-chief of what is basically a glorified blog, PotterPost, he has finally made himself a part of the liberal, lamestream media. Don’t be surprised if he exploits that platform to push his political ambition. 

Parvati Patil. Lifelong Bureaucrat.

How the websites started and how they ended after Day 1. Read that and more in the Daily Prophet. 

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Our BootCampers have launched their websites! After a long night full of hard work they have built two pages and customized their own theme! Some notes: they do not have a CRM yet for forms, surveys, signups, etc -- just a basic signup (which will add you to their email list) and their goals were to design a logo, build two pages, and made sure it was all linked together.

The best way to send feedback to the teams after checking out their websites below is to add comments on their team website here.

Take a look:

Fred Weasley

Neville Longbottom

Luna Lovegood

Cho Chang

Minerva McGonnigal

Rubeus Hagrid

Lee Jordan

Parvati Patil

FIRST EMAILS TONIGHT!

Make sure to look out tomorrow for their first emails! If you receive this you will be on the list for all 8 teams. So please watch your inboxes, give constructive feedback, and if they did well let them know!

Monday, June 9, 2014

BootCampers wil be starting today by building their websites and first emails will be going out tomorrow, Tuesday the 10th, with voting on Friday. In the meantime, take a look at the candidates fighting in the primary this year and their opponent, Draco Malfoy.

Keep watching the #BootCamp8 hashtag and look for future editions of the Daily Prophet!

Our Incumbent to beat: Draco Malfoy

Venture capitalist, Voter ID proponent, and border security activist.

Draco has been elected to Congress for four terms where he has advocated for Muggles to “self-deport” from the Wizarding world, and has staunchly fought against Muggle-Wizard marriage. After his parent's death, he inherited their large fortune and immediately put it to work trading mortgage-backed securities. After the housing crash, he was bailed out thanks to his connections at Gringotts, but his investors were left in the cold. He was recently on tape telling his large donors how “House elves were ruining this country, and that they should be denied the right to vote.”

Fred Weasley

Entrepreneur, head of the Gringotts Business Office. Founder of BLING -- Borrowing and Lending for Inferi, Nifflers and Goblins (BLING)

Fred Weasley is one of 7 kids who grew up in a farmhouse near Ottery St. Catchpole in Devon, England. While Fred did not graduate from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he is a wildly successful entrepreneur who followed his dreams alongside his twin brother to open Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. Fred is a member of the Order of the Phoenix - a secret society that worked with the Ministry of Magic to oppose the Dark Lord and his followers. In association with Gringott’s, Fred launched BLING, providing economic educational opportunities for non-human magical beings.

Neville Longbottom

Scientist - Herbologist, television host (ala. Sanjay Gupta), Wizarding fashion icon and model.

Neville Longbottom is the son of Alice and Frank Longbottom, two well-respected magical law enforcement officers who were brutally murdered while fighting for social justice. Neville was raised by his grandmother, Augusta Longbottom, and he attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Growing up Neville was shy and kept to himself, but never hesitated to show great courage in times of tragedy. Neville was a member of Dumbledore’s army, and fought in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries and the Battle of Hogwarts among others. After winning season 84 of reality show “Who wants to be a Magical Super Model,” Neville became an advocate for children’s health and dentistry. He is married to Hannah Abott.

Luna Lovegood

Founder of Lovegood’s Good Love Center -- a combination women’s clinic/vet for witches, and non-human magical creatures.

Luna Lovegood was raised in a single-parent household near the village of Ottery St. Catchpole. She was sorted into Ravenclaw upon her entry to Hogwarts, joined Dumbledore’s Army, and was key to their success. At one point, Luna was held at ransom for days (prisoner of war) but never gave up the location of her friends. In addition to fighting in many famous battles against the Death Eaters, Luna opened the first-ever combination women’s health clinic/veterinary office for witches and non-human magical creatures. Luna is the proud single mother of an openly transgender daughter.

Cho Chang

Defense attorney and wand violence prevention advocate, head of the non-profit Coalition to Stop Wand Violence

Cho Chang, a longtime sports fan (go Tutshill Tornados!), was an accomplished student athlete during her time at Hogwarts, where she was sorted into Ravenclaw and competed as the only female athlete on her Quidditch team. Her life was changed forever when her boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, was murdered by wandfire during a run-in with Lord Voldemort in her 4th year at Hogwarts. In the first of many acts of bipartisanship and collaboration, Cho reached across the aisle as one of the first Ravenclaw members to join up with representatives from Gryffindor to form Dumbledore’s Army. Following her graduation, Cho founded the Coalition to Stop Wand Violence in memory of Cedric, and has been a pioneer in advocating for sensible solutions to wand violence, including developing mandatory educational programming for students, expanding access to mental health care, and outlawing wands in pubs. Cho is married to a Muggle man, and they have two young children.

Minerva McGonnigal

Head of the Magical Association of Gryffindor Educators, an organization looking out for collective bargaining for Magical educators.

Minerva McGonnigal was born on the outskirts of Caithness in the Scottish Highlands. The daughter of a Muggle and a Witch, Minerva found herself at Hogwarts as a student of magic. Her first job after school was in Magical Law Enforcement for the Ministry of Magic. Seeing how mistreated inmates were at Azkaban, she returned to Hogwarts to help end the school-to-Azkaban pipeline for magical students. She has seen firsthand how having stronger teachers directly influences the lives of magical students after their academic careers. Minerva is the first openly-lesbian leader of a Major Union of Magicians (MUM).

Rubeus Hagrid

Founder of It Gets Better for Witches and Wizards.

As a half-human, half-giant wizard, Hagrid struggled to fit in and was constantly targeted by bullies during his time at Hogwarts. He found refuge in the Forbidden Forest and companionship in the myriad of creatures that lived within it. Recognizing that Hagrid might be gay, Albus Dumbledore took him under his wing and with the unexpected help of Severus Snape, the three launched “It Gets Better for Witches and Wizards” at Hogwarts. Hagrid’s programs have helped hundreds of student wizards share their stories, build confidence, and create community. He lives just outside the Forbidden Forest with his loyal dog and best friend, Fang. Hagrid also cares for all the magical creatures on the grounds at Hogwarts and has become a very strong voice for environmental groups. Last year, he was arrested after cuffing himself to the fence outside the Ministry of Magic, protesting the building of the Sorceror Stone Pipeline.

Lee Jordan

Media mogul, founder of PotterPost -- the wizarding community’s only independent news network.

As a young man, Lee was a close friend of the Weasley brothers, Fred and George. He frequently took part in their pranks and even contributed several inventions to their store. In his later life, he recognized the magical world needed to start paying attention to the emerging majority. He’d noticed in previous elections that witches and wizards of color were overwhelmingly disenfranchised at the polls due to new voter ID laws pushed by Draco Malfoy. Additionally, he saw that much of the mainstream news was coming from biased sources such as Rita Skeeter and the Daily Prophet. That’s when he decided to launch PotterPost, a community-led independent news source. As a respected community leader, Lee has fought to overturn the discriminatory voting law and provided a truly fair and balanced news source for the magical and muggle alike. Lee is married and has two teenage sons.

Parvati Patil

Department of Mysteries Director and International Security Expert

We're back with more free trainings!

We’re launching Toolbox Live -- an 8 session guided tour through the essentials of organizing. We’ll include our best Toolbox lessons, study materials to accompany them, and then host a live online session with one of our great coaches.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Lesson 1: Intro to Organizing Lesson 2: Engaging Others Through Story Lesson 3: Commitment & Structure Lesson 4: Data-Driven Campaign Strategy Lesson 5: GOTV Planning Lesson 6: Data-Driven GOTV Lesson 7: Online Engagement Lesson 8: Voter Protection