Leader to advise Democrat about campaign medal (5)

I believe the answer is:

award

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'campaign medal' is the definition.
'award' can be an answer for 'medal' (I've seen this before). I'm not certain of the 'campaign' bit.

'leader to advise democrat' is the wordplay.
'leader' says to take the initial letters.
'democrat' becomes 'ward' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The first letter of 'advise' is 'a'.
'a'+'ward'='AWARD'

'about' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for award that I've seen before include "Prize in recognition of achievement" , "Tony is one" , "Write up" , "Adjudge" , "Give, as an honour" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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