Our Association's Presidential Candidate Recommendation Process

NEA members - nearly 10,000 of them - voted July 4 to officially recommend Sen. Barack Obama for U.S. president. The voting members are representatives of NEA's 3.2 million members, all elected by their fellow members at the local association or state association levels. More than 125 Colorado Education Association (CEA) members participated in the vote. They were in attendance at NEA's annual meeting, the Representative Assembly (RA).

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No NEA dues are spent on any activities for or contributions to presidential candidates. The money that is used for this purpose comes from individual member contributions collected separately from dues by the NEA Fund. NEA does use member dues to communicate with members about political issues including recommended candidates.

The NEA Presidential Recommendation Process

In early 2007, then-NEA President Reg Weaver invited all the announced candidates to participate in our Association's presidential candidate recommendation process. He asked them to participate by answering NEA's written questionnaire about public education and participating in a personal interview. It is through this process that Association members learn how the candidates measure up on public education issues.

Eight candidates completed this process and also spoke to 10,000 Association members at the July 2007 NEA Representative Assembly: Sen. Joe Biden; Sen. Hillary Clinton; Sen. Chris Dodd; former Sen. John Edwards; former Gov. Mike Huckabee; Rep. Dennis Kucinich; Sen. Barack Obama; and Gov. Bill Richardson.

In the fall of 2007, President Weaver recommended a list of acceptable presidential candidates to the NEA Fund for Children & Public Education, NEA's political committee. To be considered "acceptable," a candidate must complete the NEA questionnaire on public education issues, be interviewed by the NEA president, and support a majority of NEA's positions on the questionnaire. In mid-December 2007, the NEA Fund* approved seven candidates as "acceptable" to our Association based on their questionnaires, interviews, and support of our positions. The seven acceptable candidates were Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson. The NEA Fund determined that Mike Huckabee was not acceptable.

*CEA President Beverly Ingle, Cherry Creek teacher and Cherry Creek EA member, represents Colorado members on the NEA Fund for Children & Public Education.