Introducing the Conservative Alternative to the Netroots

Human Events ^ | 8/10/06 | John Hawkins

[Coop]

...while liberal bloggers haven't had as much success as conservative bloggers at breaking big stories, they have done one thing extremely well: raise money for liberal candidates. Granted, they don't have much of a win and loss record, because more often as not they seem to support candidates that don't have any chance to win, but that doesn't change the fact that they are funneling lots of lucre into Democratic coffers.

So, why have the liberal bloggers been able to raise so much money when conservative bloggers have been unable to do the same thing? Well, as RNC eCampaign Director Patrick Ruffini told me in a June 6, 2006 mini-interview, there's actually a very simple explanation:

John Hawkins: Oh, let me just throw this in. Why do you think the left side of the blogosphere has been so much more successful than the right at fund raising (for candidates)?

Patrick Ruffini: To the extent that's true, it's a matter of asking. You can't receive if you don't ask...when you see these candidates on the left (that raise a lot of money), the Francine Busby's of the world, it's because they keep pounding and pounding and pounding away.

Those comments got me thinking, "Here we are in an election year and the GOP is desperately trying to keep Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid from grabbing the reigns of power. Yet, even though we have the liberal blogosphere raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars for Democratic candidates, we conservative bloggers are just sitting on our hands."

Someone needed to step up and do something and since no one else was doing it, I decided that someone had better be me. So, I immediately started reaching out to influential bloggers who might be willing and able to help out with a project like this. In short order, Mary Katharine Ham from Townhall, Robert Bluey from Human Events, Erick Erickson from Redstate, Ed Morrissey from Captain's Quarters, Patrick Hynes from Ankle Biting Pundits, and Lorie Byrd from Wizbang all volunteered to help out.

Once we got a team together, the next step was selecting candidates we could endorse. The first thing we decided to do was to back candidates in competitive races. So, we didn't bother with any candidates that were certain to win or certain to lose. We also decided not to back any incumbents, not only because an incumbent shouldn't need our help to raise funds -- but because we wanted to give people who weren't satisfied with the performance of the Republican Congress a slate that they could feel comfortable helping. Then, after much discussion, we decided not to back any candidates in contested primaries in order to avoid the sort of dog and pony show that Connecticut has turned into for the Democrats. In the end, we came up with a slate of 18 candidates -- four Republicans running for the Senate and 14 candidates contending for House seats.

But, then came the debut of Rightroots on August 1, and I have to admit that we were all on pins and needles. On the right side of the blogosphere, no one had ever endorsed a whole slate of candidates before and we wondered what the reaction would be...

So, what happened? Well in our first week, we raised over $36,000 for our candidates, we were endorsed by Bill Frist, and we had Jack Kingston's PAC agree to chip in another $14,000 to our candidates. In my book, that is a fantastic start! However, if we're going to keep that momentum going, we will need some help. We're going to need more contributions and we're going to need more people to spread the word about Rightroots. Although this started as a blogosphere project, we don't want it to end there. That's why we'd love to have more bloggers endorsing and linking our efforts, but we'd also love to get conservative magazines, talk radio, politicians, and party activists all helping out, too. After all, it is called, "Rightroots" and the "roots" of the party aren't just made up of bloggers.

... That's why it's so important to help us make the Rightroots project successful, because the seeds we sow in the next three months have the potential to grow into an enormous harvest for conservatives by the end of the next election cycle.

[Coop]

Mr. Hawkins runs Right Wing News, a conservative blog. He writes a weekly column for Human Events Online. You can also e-mail him at johnhawkins -at- rightwingnews.com.

[Coop]

Diana Irey is still leading the pack of 18 conservative candidates in fundraising. While Rightroots had a great start, it has only raised maybe $1500 in the past few days.

www.abcpac.com/rightroots

[Coop]

Forgot to mention that this PAC does take a cut for operating expenses. Here's the list of candidates and a short bio on each:

Michele Bachmann (MN-06) Michele Bachmann is running to fill Republican Mark Kennedy's old seat in a district that went 57% - 42% for George Bush in 2004. However, her opponent Patty Wetterling gave Kennedy a tough run for his money in 2004 and is likely to put up a tough fight. This is an important seat, one that the GOP can't afford to lose -- and we won't as long as Michele gets the funds she needs to compete.

List continued here

[bitt]

Check it out...

http://www.abcpac.com/rightroots/

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Michele is VERY pro-life and VERY anti-gay marriage.

[Coop]

The link is in my second post

[jazusamo]

Good post and hopefully Rightroots will continue to be as successful as it has been for its first week.

It should appeal to some Conservatives who are disallusioned with the RNC because they can contribute to specific candidates who are conservative.

[Coop]

FYI

[wagglebee]

BTTT!

Great Post!

[Coop]

FYI ping

[north_georgia_republican]

I think its a matter of these liberal bloggers fooling alot of traditional democrats out of their money and then using it to back candidates who are basically a bunch of socialists who are so far left that they hardly have a chance, Then the lefties/commies cant understand why the round peg doesnt fit into the square hole.

[Coop]

Ping

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[A.Hun]

Thanks Coop for the ping. Will check it out.

[TChris]

...from grabbing the reigns[sic] of power.

Somebody needs to crack open their dictionary more frequently.

rein
n.

1. A long narrow leather strap attached to each end of the bit of a bridle and used by a rider or driver to control a horse or other animal. Often used in the plural.
2. A means of restraint, check, or guidance.
3. A means or an instrument by which power is exercised. Often used in the plural: the reins of government.

[Soul Seeker]

It should appeal to some Conservatives who are disallusioned with the RNC because they can contribute to specific candidates who are conservative.

Agreed, though I prefer donating directing to the individual but for those that would prefer one step quicker this is a good method.

The only RNC organization at this point I find tolerable is for the House...but I'm still making my donations only directly to the candidate. So far, mainly to challengers. If Santorum needed it, I might send his way but he seems to do fairly well raising funds for himself. I might send Leiberman something, the only Democrat I might, depends how well he does with fundraisers.

[jazusamo]

Agreed, though I prefer donating directing to the individual

I also prefer to donate directly because every dime donated goes to them where Rightroots and other groups take a small percentage for costs.

The good thing is that it gives specific candidates some name recognition with the endorsers on a national scale.

[Valin]

Diana Irey is still leading the pack of 18 conservative candidates in fundraising

Gee, I wonder why that is?
/really really stupid question

[Valin]

Patty Wetterling, her claim to fame is her son (Jacob) was kidnapped in 89.

[Coop]

Just over $41K in total donations.