Behind Dean Surge: A Gang of Bloggers And Webmasters

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Tuesday, October 14, 2003 | JEANNE CUMMINGS

[TroutStalker]

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Two years ago, Joe Trippi was a burned-out Democratic operative who had fled Washington for California. Working as a marketing consultant for dot-coms, he was awed to learn how millions of computer whizzes had designed the Linux operating system through a free-form grass-roots collaboration and taken on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows. He wondered if a political campaign could work the same way.

[ClearCase_guy]

Mathew Gross, a 31-year-old environmental activist living in Moab, Utah ... quit his job serving burritos and flew east to join the Dean campaign

Once again, the Democrats are led by the Best and the Brightest.

[Lockbox]

In May, Mr. Trippi enlisted another Web phenomenon: MoveOn.org, a nonprofit liberal group. Wes Boyd, an Internet entrepreneur, started the site to oppose Bill Clinton's impeachment, e-mailing a petition to 50 friends and relatives that said: Censure President Clinton and move on. Within three weeks, 250,000 people had signed on. Since then, MoveOn has expanded its activism. Last December, Mr. Boyd e-mailed MoveOn's members seeking donations for a $40,000 antiwar ad in the New York Times. In two days, he had enough. The lesson: People donate if they see quick results.

Mr. Boyd offered MoveOn's expertise to all the Democratic contenders. Only the Dean campaign accepted, paying MoveOn employee Zack Exley's salary for two weeks. Mr. Exley, 33, made the Dean Web site more user-friendly and preached about e-mail's organizing and fund-raising power.

Anyone know the legality of MoveOn's actions regarding nonprofit organizations and political fund raising? Maybe worth finding out for Republican leaning nonprofit groups.

[Congressman Billybob]

Just minutes after replying to your FReep mail, I saw this article in the Wall Street Journal about the use of the Internet in campaigns. It's about Howard Dean and MoveOn, a person and an organization that I think are clear and present dangers to the Republic, but the methods used are interchangeable.

A mere candidate for Congress will almost never rise above the radar of the national press. But the point, of course, is that the traditional press becomes largely irrelevant. You will note that the WSJ praises the use of the interactive blog.

Though it's been "non-operational" from day one, you've noted that an interactive blog was part of my website planning from the get-go. And you know how well, quickly, and clearly I respond to posts on FR. I can make that page absolutely sing, if you can make it function in the first place.

Just a topical follow-up to our FReep mail.

John / Billybob

[Support Free Republic]

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[huck von finn]

1. Where's the barf alert?

2. The WSJ has a favorable article about Dean?!

[finnman69]

That's great. The article is all about how wonderful the machine is at raising money but it forgets one thing.

Howard Dean is still a flip flopping antiwar goon who wants to tax the bejusus out of us and spend even more.

[finnman69]

Internet fund raising is even more efficient, netting at least 95 cents for every dollar given and broadening a campaign's small-donor base. Nearly half of Mr. Dean's six-month take of $10.5 million came from donations of less than $200. The four other top Democratic fund-raisers -- each had raised at least $7 million -- got no more than 13% of their totals from small donors. President Bush, the king of high-dollar fund raising, received 9% from small donors.

Something is fishy about this. I suspect the facts for this come from the Deanies and that the bar for defining donations as "small" was chosen to make Bush look bad. I bet if the donation number was brought down to say $50, Bush would trump all in highest % of small donations.

[finnman69]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031014/us_nm/politics_money_dc_1

Bush Breaks Own Campaign Fund-Raising Records

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) smashed his own campaign fund-raising record in the last three months, bringing in $49.5 million for his re-election bid and eclipsing the financial efforts of his Democratic rivals.

The financial haul for July, August and September broke Bush's own record of $34.4 million raised in the second quarter of the year and gave him a total of nearly $84 million, campaign officials said on Tuesday.

That is far more than any of his Democratic rivals will have raised when reports are filed with the Federal Election Commission (news - web sites) by the end of the day on Wednesday, and puts Bush nearly halfway to his goal of raising $170 million for his unopposed Republican primary campaign.

Campaign manager Ken Mehlman said more than $70 million of the total was raised at campaign fund raisers around the country headlined by Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites). He told reporters the donations came from 262,000 contributors in nearly every county in the United States.

Asked what Bush would do with all of the money, he said it would be used to beat back an expected advertising blitz from Democratic-leaning special interest groups that can still raise unlimited soft-money contributions that national parties are banned from collecting.

A study by the Center for Public Integrity found such organizations, including labor unions and environmental and abortion rights groups, could double the fund raising of their Republican counterparts in an effort to drive Bush from the White House in 2004.

"We are likely to face a strong barrage of soft money from special interest groups that are already out there," Mehlman said. "It's very possible we could get outspent. We need these resources to combat the third-party money."

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (news - web sites) was expected to lead the Democratic presidential field with about $15 million raised in July, August and September, far outdistancing his nearest rivals for the Democratic nomination.

[finnman69]

I thought so

For Immediate Release
October 1, 2003
Contact: Christine Iverson
202-863-8614


Republican National Committee Breaks One Million New Donor Record


Bush Breaks Previous Record Set by Ronald Reagan


Washington, DC -- Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie today announced that President George W. Bush has broken former President Ronald Reagan's record of attracting first-time contributors to the Republican Party.

More than one million new people have donated to the Republican Party since George W. Bush was sworn in as president in January of 2001, shattering the previous record set by former President Ronald Reagan. Their average contribution is less than $30.

Under Reagan, 853,595 people donated to the Republican Party for the first time during an eight-year span encompassing his two terms in office. Bush has broken that record in less than three years, versus Reagan’s eight.

“People across America appreciate the President’s strong and principled leadership. One million people who were not involved with the Republican Party before are actively involved today because of President Bush’s positive message and positive agenda,” said Gillespie.

“These are people who believe the policies of President Bush and the Republican Party are best for their families and the future of this country,” Gillespie said.



Statistics:

During Reagan’s eight years as President (January 1981-December 1988) 853,595 first-time contributors donated to the Republican party.

During George W. Bush’s 33 months in office (January 2001-September 2003) 1,000,305 new, first-time contributors have donated to the Republican party.


The average contribution is $29.80

Contributions have come from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and 33,158 zip codes.

[finnman69]

The graph below shows the major party candidates' FEC fund-raising figures from the 2nd quarter of 2003. Select a chart from the menu to the right for comparisons of full totals.

[finnman69]

The graph below shows the total money spent by each of the 2004 presidential contenders since filing their campaign with the Federal Election Commission. Select a chart from the menu to the right for more comparisons.