Ray,
AS has already responded to that story and he is not impressed. He is still citing poll numbers that are three to four weeks old that have Kerry up by 12-16%. I suspect that the race has narrowed since then. An additional factor will be crossover votes. Dean should be able to attract some people who voted for McCain in 2000.
quote.bloomberg.com
U.S. Candidate Dean Scores With Small Donors; Rivals Also Try
July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Democrat Howard Dean was speaking at a Seattle rally for his presidential campaign last month when supporters began passing around a large black trash bag. They stuffed in $10 and $25 checks until the sack was bulging.
Small donations like those helped Dean raise $7.6 million in the second quarter, the most among the nine Democratic candidates for president, according to figures released last week. Dean's success has caused rivals including Bob Graham and Joe Lieberman to step up their efforts to get more checks with fewer zeros.
Tapping small donors ``has a huge growth potential,'' said Carla Eudy, a Republican fundraiser who was Senator John McCain's finance director in the 2000 presidential race. ``There's a finite number of people who can give $2,000.''
Dean has used the Internet to get supporters to contribute small amounts or meet at rallies like the Seattle event, which often lead to financial support.
About 48 percent of the $10.2 million Dean has raised this year came from donations of less than $200, the highest percentage among the major Democrats running. Such contributions made up 14 percent of the $87.8 million raised by President George W. Bush and all the Democrats in the first half of the year, according to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
Graham, the U.S. senator from Florida, has recruited more than 600 supporters who agreed to raise $1,000 each from friends and relatives -- an answer to President George W. Bush's ``Pioneers'' who commit to raising $100,000. Graham's campaign named it the ``Bobcat Program,'' calling Bush's backers ``Fat Cats.''
Reaching Out
Connecticut Senator Lieberman, the 2000 vice presidential candidate, is also taking aim at small donors over the Internet and with more direct appeals.
``In 2004, it's been shown that that reaching out to those who have not been politically active, but who want to be, is what works,'' said Lieberman spokesman Jano Cabrera.
For last November's elections, contributions of less than $200 totaled about $523 million, or 38 percent of the $1.4 billion given by individuals to all congressional candidates and political parties, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks campaign finance.
While Bush's recent $2,000-a-plate fundraisers may suggest otherwise, Republicans traditionally have been better than Democrats at scooping up small checks. In last year's races, Republicans received 64 percent of the under-$200 donations, compared with 35 percent for the Democrats.
Internet Age
Contributors giving a total of less than $200, who don't have to be identified in reports to the Federal Election Commission, often support candidates in ways that go beyond money, said Max Fose, a partner in Integrated Web Strategy, an Internet consulting firm.
``If a senior citizen from Sun City, Arizona, gives you $25, she's going to go vote for you,'' he said.
The key is to collect small contributions in large numbers. While it is often easier to seek $200 than $2,000, small checks are usually gathered using mail and phone solicitations -- expensive ways to raise money.
``It costs a lot less to find and collect one $2,000 contribution than ten $200 contributions,'' said David Mason, a Republican commissioner at the FEC.
In addition, the new campaign finance law doubled to $2,000 the maximum an individual can give to a candidate, making large donors even more profitable.
In `Doonesbury'
The Internet has helped reduce costs. The expense to build and maintain a Web page is less than paying repeatedly for postage or professional phone banks, said Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager. Once established, a Web page can bring in money for months or years, capitalizing on the tendency of small donors to give again and again.
McCain was one of the first presidential candidates to raise a significant amount using the Internet, collecting more than $1 million hours after upsetting Bush in the 2000 New Hampshire primary. The medium has since expanded.
``There are a lot more people on the Internet and a lot more people are comfortable using a credit card,'' said Fose, who handled McCain's online effort.
Almost half of Dean's second-quarter fundraising came through his Web site. Lieberman raised $200,000, or 4 percent, on line in the quarter, and Bush raised $700,000, or 2 percent, according to the campaigns.
Dean's Web page, which helps volunteers organize events, has become so well-known it gets a recurring mention in Gary Trudeau's ``Doonesbury'' cartoons. To build a following, the site updates as often as every 30 minutes and offers features such as a telephone call from Dean to lucky contributors.
Dean fans sometimes use the Internet beyond his Web page to help the candidate, campaign manager Trippi said. After attending a March event for Dean in New York, he said, one supporter sent an e-mail to friends and colleagues suggesting they give money.
He included a twist, asking supporters to add a penny to their donations, giving $10.01 or $100.01, so they could be traced to that event. The campaign tallied more than $400,000 in contributions with an extra penny attached, Trippi said.
Last Updated: July 21, 2003 00:22 EDT |
