Thursday, 05.22.08
Spreading the Wealth
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
The Amazing Money Machine
June 2008
Only Connect
May 2008
Michael Hirschorn offers a cautionary tale to would-be Internet-age politicians.
The story of Obama's phenomenal fundraising success has been told before. (I told it myself, in the June Atlantic.) He's now raised well over a quarter of a billion dollars, forever changing the way presidential candidates will approach the task of funding their campaign. But a recent report from the Campaign Finance Institute indicates that the Obama phenomenon (Obamanon?) is thus far a limited one -- it hasn't spread to Democratic congressional candidates. While Democrats do currently boast a cash advantage over their Republican competitors, and a wider one than in the last election cycle, they've gained it by relying on the "old" methods. Small donors seem not to have gravitated to congressional contests.
But that might soon change, and a pair of key figures in the Obama universe (both profiled in my piece) are working to see that it will. Mark Gorenberg, a San Francisco venture capitalist, is among a group that has launched "Secure Our Senate Majority," which seeks to enlist many of the fundraisers and fundraising methods that have helped Obama prosper in the task of expanding the Democrats' majority in the Senate. Likewise, on the House side, Nadine North, a high-tech-executive recruiter at Taylor Winfield in Silicon Valley, has launched "Build Up the House 2008." If they're even modestly successful in their efforts, what's shaping up to be a grim year for Republicans will only get worse.
Down-ticket help?Two recent Democratic victories in House races in Republican districts -- in which Republicans attempted to tie the Democrats to Obama -- seem to suggest that Obama won't hurt down-ticket Democrats in November. |
Obama's 50-state strategyFollowing Howard Dean's country-wide re-imagination of the Democratic National Committee, the Obama Campaign announced a 50-state voter registration drive designed to help both Obama and other Democratic candidates. |
It came from...OpenSecrets has the details on contributors to Obama's massive fundraising totals. |
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Weird, I was just wondering today if this could be replicated for Congressional candidates. Glad to hear someone's on the case. I wonder if the "fundraising method" is separable from Obama's unorthodox application of the community organization model to running for office and (one supposes) governance.
I am a Canadian avidly watching this Democratic race for the presidential nominee
The amount of money raised by Obama's solicitation via the internet has to be a guage of the vast appeal of this man who was a virtual unknown just six months ago .To say that the two candidates are neck and neck in this protracted contest is to lose sight of how handicapped Obama was at the outset . Hillary was a well known celebrity going into this election battle . Obama has run an amazing campaign to gain recognition that has led to his catching up in this race. He most certainly responsible for the record number of voters turning up at the polls
The world needs more eloquent visionaries like Barack Hussein Obama . New blood needed in global politics .The world is a melting pot of races .This man is perfect for that role in representing the US of A
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Won't give to the DNC until I know who the candidate is. I shudder at a Bill-and-Hillary, already-Rove-turbo'd White House. Their lust for power is absolute, and I guarantee they'll give nothing back to We the People. You just know they won't be able to help themselves.
Posted by zeno | May 22, 2008 9:57 PM