Something you don't see every day:

Cindy Darrison, the woman who helped turn Eliot Spitzer from a self-funded candidate into a fund-raising machine, is teaching a course on the subject of soliciting contributions later this month at NYU. The course, I’m told, will feature “fund-raising professionals, a candidate and a major contributor.”

Successful students even get a certificate at the end.

Serious question, which a lot of you will be in a better position to answer than I am: how important would a certification like this be for an elected official or campaign in evaluating a prospective hire for their fund-raising department?