New Media Invigorates DNC Small Donors
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This Blog is just a few observations about the Second Quarter fundraising totals. Of course I'll lead with the cavernous comparison of the two frontrunning candidates in each Party's totals, but beyond of the raw numbers I think the most interesting bit comes from the previously people-powered McCain campaign as an example of the force driving the disparity in small donations for each Party.
OK, before we begin talking about small donors, let's recognize that there is a massive, Party-based difference in how much money the major candidates are raising. But (below) are Internet communities the cause of this shift or is this merely a coincidence?
Sen. Barack Obama: $32.8 million ($34.5 million cash on hand for primaries)
Sen. Hillary Clinton: $27 million ($32.7 million)
= $67.2 million cash on hand
Rudy Giuliani: $17.3 million ($14.6 million)
Mitt Romney: $13.7 million ($12.1 million)
= $26.7 million cash on hand (a difference of $40.5 million COH)
The truly interesting comparison is below, however:
Sen. John McCain: $11.2 million ($3.2 million)
Compare this to the Edwards campaign, or even the next three Democratic candidates, who all outraised Sen. McCain and are raising impressive amounts of cash six quarters away from the election. Where is this money coming from, or rather, where is it not coming from for the Republican Party?
John Edwards: $8.9 million ($12.1 million)
Gov. Bill Richardson: $7 million ($7 million)
Sen. Christopher Dodd: $3.25 million ($5 million)
These three candidates have eight times the cash on hand that Sen. McCain does. Of course John McCain is no longer the frontrunner, but considering the war chest he compiled in 2000 this is surprising. The 2000 McCain campaign had an ingenious knack for finding small dollar donations, the lack of which is responsible for a sizeable amount of the gap between Democratic and Republican candidates.
The major donors have weighed in on both sides of the aisle, but if the Democratic base continues to chip in a hundred dollars per quarter while even the most impressive Republican machine falters, we could be looking at a new fundraising paradigm. I don't think "The Republican base is upset" is quite satisfactory for explaining these numbers.
Is the accessibility and connectivity of the Internet closing and overtaking the fundraising advantage that concentrated wealth has long given the Republican Party? Well, the real answer is nothing is static. The Republican Party can and probably will adapt to the Internet as a medium for channeling money.
The crux of the matter is media consumption.
The Democratic Party's base has adapted to more interactive media for their news. Ratings of all network Nightly News are down, and it's not just because cable news is a viable alternative. A growing section of the country is finding its news online AND THEN RESPONDING TO IT AND CONVERSING ABOUT IT.
The Republican Party remains mired in the talking points of AM radio. This was a long-effective medium of top-down Party control. Increasingly the country is more plugged in to the Internet, which continues to replace passive news as a popular medium.
I hypothesize (no empirical tests here, sorry) that two phenomena are happening:
1) Discussion-driven, Democratic Internet communities are creating energy among the more diverse of the major American parties in a way that press releases and talking points never could, freeing up small donations from different (issue-driven?) sections of the Democratic base.
2) As the plugged-in, increasingly Internet-reliant country turns toward the Democratic Party for solutions, the donor base is widening to include people who wouldn't otherwise have considered making a donation.
The viability of new media strategies and presence in the Democratic camp is feeding both subsets of small donors, and the energy around this creates an air of inevitability that you really can't buy.
Other fundraising totals:
Rep. Ron Paul: $2.4 million ($2.3 million)
Sen. Joseph Biden: $2.3 million ($1.8 million)
Sen. Sam Brownback: $1.4 million ($460,000)
Mike Huckabee: $763,000 ($437,000)
Rep. Dennis Kucinich: $757,000
Tommy Thompson: $445,000 ($122,000)
Jim Gilmore: $182,000
Thanks to PoliticalWire.com for providing the raw numbers.
OK, before we begin talking about small donors, let's recognize that there is a massive, Party-based difference in how much money the major candidates are raising. But (below) are Internet communities the cause of this shift or is this merely a coincidence?
Sen. Barack Obama: $32.8 million ($34.5 million cash on hand for primaries)
Sen. Hillary Clinton: $27 million ($32.7 million)
= $67.2 million cash on hand
Rudy Giuliani: $17.3 million ($14.6 million)
Mitt Romney: $13.7 million ($12.1 million)
= $26.7 million cash on hand (a difference of $40.5 million COH)
The truly interesting comparison is below, however:
Sen. John McCain: $11.2 million ($3.2 million)
Compare this to the Edwards campaign, or even the next three Democratic candidates, who all outraised Sen. McCain and are raising impressive amounts of cash six quarters away from the election. Where is this money coming from, or rather, where is it not coming from for the Republican Party?
John Edwards: $8.9 million ($12.1 million)
Gov. Bill Richardson: $7 million ($7 million)
Sen. Christopher Dodd: $3.25 million ($5 million)
These three candidates have eight times the cash on hand that Sen. McCain does. Of course John McCain is no longer the frontrunner, but considering the war chest he compiled in 2000 this is surprising. The 2000 McCain campaign had an ingenious knack for finding small dollar donations, the lack of which is responsible for a sizeable amount of the gap between Democratic and Republican candidates.
The major donors have weighed in on both sides of the aisle, but if the Democratic base continues to chip in a hundred dollars per quarter while even the most impressive Republican machine falters, we could be looking at a new fundraising paradigm. I don't think "The Republican base is upset" is quite satisfactory for explaining these numbers.
Is the accessibility and connectivity of the Internet closing and overtaking the fundraising advantage that concentrated wealth has long given the Republican Party? Well, the real answer is nothing is static. The Republican Party can and probably will adapt to the Internet as a medium for channeling money.
The crux of the matter is media consumption.
The Democratic Party's base has adapted to more interactive media for their news. Ratings of all network Nightly News are down, and it's not just because cable news is a viable alternative. A growing section of the country is finding its news online AND THEN RESPONDING TO IT AND CONVERSING ABOUT IT.
The Republican Party remains mired in the talking points of AM radio. This was a long-effective medium of top-down Party control. Increasingly the country is more plugged in to the Internet, which continues to replace passive news as a popular medium.
I hypothesize (no empirical tests here, sorry) that two phenomena are happening:
1) Discussion-driven, Democratic Internet communities are creating energy among the more diverse of the major American parties in a way that press releases and talking points never could, freeing up small donations from different (issue-driven?) sections of the Democratic base.
2) As the plugged-in, increasingly Internet-reliant country turns toward the Democratic Party for solutions, the donor base is widening to include people who wouldn't otherwise have considered making a donation.
The viability of new media strategies and presence in the Democratic camp is feeding both subsets of small donors, and the energy around this creates an air of inevitability that you really can't buy.
Other fundraising totals:
Rep. Ron Paul: $2.4 million ($2.3 million)
Sen. Joseph Biden: $2.3 million ($1.8 million)
Sen. Sam Brownback: $1.4 million ($460,000)
Mike Huckabee: $763,000 ($437,000)
Rep. Dennis Kucinich: $757,000
Tommy Thompson: $445,000 ($122,000)
Jim Gilmore: $182,000
Thanks to PoliticalWire.com for providing the raw numbers.
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There is a problem here though. We need to convert the individual from being a sedentary viewer / writer to being a full participant of the issues. We need to creat action. We need a full blown March to every State Capital followed by a March to Washinton DC. To shake up the appathy and bring some energy in to America