More Ways To Raise More Money

Presidential Hopefuls Have Bold New Ideas — For Fund-Raising

(The Politico)  By The Politico's Mike Allen.

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has come up with the flashiest fund-raising innovation in a presidential campaign in which the price of admission is estimated at $100 million, and the final tab for the contest is likely to approach $2 billion.

At that price tag, candidates will need to raise about $10 million a month just to reach the starting gate, and Romney supporters are depending on a cutting-edge fund-raising Web system to do it.

Supporters of Romney, who plans to formalize his race for the Republican nomination in the next few weeks, can become the equivalent of the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign's Pioneers and Rangers while sitting on the couch with a laptop.

When they log onto QuickComMITT, fundraising volunteers will use a password from the campaign. They will enter information about each person they call, down to whether they couldn't reach them or left a message. The system supersedes spreadsheets of past campaign and the tracking numbers that the Bush-Cheney campaign used to credit supporters for money they had raised.

If the prospective donor wants to make a contribution, the credit card information is processed from the same screen, making the job of raising money for Romney as easy "as buying something from eBay or booking an airline ticket online," according to the instructions for users.

With the major candidates in both parties building huge staffs and opening lavish headquarters months ahead of campaigns past, the pressure is on to raise huge amounts of money at a furious pace. The campaigns have the luxury of raising money online but also face huge expenses for maintaining a constant and sophisticated Web presence to keep supporters engaged, without being able to shave any of the traditional costs like field offices and TV ads.

"We're entering into a new world of presidential fund-raising," said Michael E. Toner III, a commissioner of the Federal Election Commission.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., upped the ante when she announced her candidacy by declaring that she was raising money for the primary and general campaigns simultaneously. That means she won't take federal funds for the fall campaign — the first time a candidate has done that since the new campaign finance system was set up after Watergate.

The practical consequence is that she might be able to spend as much as $250 million in the fall versus the $80 million she would have gotten from the government, making it a virtual certainty that the Republican nominee will do the same, according to party strategists.

Toner, the FEC commissioner, said $100 million in 2007 has become "essentially an entry fee" for the closely spaced primaries and caucuses at the start of 2008.

"People who could give $2,000 in 2004 can give $2,300 for the 2008 primaries, because the campaign finance limits are now indexed for inflation. And they can give $2,300 for the general election.

So someone who was hit up for $2,000 just three years ago might well be asked for $4,600 this time. The Hillary for President Web site already does that explicitly, inviting online contributions ranging from $25 to $4,600. Other sites in both parties top out at $2,300 but leave a space for "other."

Toner said that with donors able to give twice as much at a time, top candidates will be able to raise as much as $9 million in a single evening. The first significant benchmark will be the federal filings for the amount raised through the first quarter, which will become public on April 15. Political aficionados will spend Tax Day poring over a lot more than their IRS returns: Long before the voters of New Hampshire and Iowa have their say, loyal donors in the two parties will help winnow the fields.

So if you've been a big giver in the past, your phone is already ringing with invitations and solicitations.

"The low-hanging fruit is being shaken out of the trees now," said a Bush supporter who was a Ranger, meaning he raised at least $200,000 for the re-election campaign. "People are already starting to get worn out of getting phone calls."

People help raise these gargantuan sums because of access to the candidate and top aides, status with their business and social peers, and excitement about participating in such a vast operation. Past givers are listed in federal disclosure records, so all the campaigns have their names.

But it takes an awful lot of $2,300 checks to add up to $100 million. What the campaigns really need and value are the bundlers — people like Pioneers and Rangers with many well-heeled friends and business associates who will tell two friends, who will tell two friends, and so on, and so on. Several of the campaigns are getting people started by asking them to pledge to raise at least $25,000.

"It's multilevel marketing," said an experienced Republican fundraiser with contacts in all the campaigns. "Some people will get into it and get real excited and they'll raise a lot more than $25,000 — they'll raise 100 and others will only raise 10. But you've just got to get the bodies." President Bush has raised more money than any politician in history. So his system has been deconstructed by fundraisers on both sides, and several of the campaigns are blatantly copying some of his strategies. As first reported in the New York Daily News by Ben Smith, now with The Politico, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has created a Bush-Ranger knockoff using a baseball motif, with a descending structure of Team Captains, MVPs, All Stars and Sluggers.

[agnim]

Is Hilary looking more and more like a prune or what?

It seems like this woman has just let herself go in a FEW SHORT YEARS. What a shame.

And she wants to lead America?
Another joke on the senile. LOL

[bluestardad]

I have one Better and even more ridiculous than this article!

On CSPAN General Casey Jr. just told Senator Warner of the Senate Armed Services Committee that he was not aware of any War Gaming for the New Iraqi Surge Plan! He was unaware if the plan had even been tried on Paper! This General is suppose to be the General in Charge of the Iraq War! General Casey is under consideration for the Chief of Staff of the Army and he is not aware if the Iraq Surge Plan we are debating had ever been War Gamed to determine plausibility, probability of Success, or any type of Course of Action Analysis has been done to determine a possible acceptable outcome! He should be drummed from the service as this is total dereliction of Duty. To Send 21,000 more troops to a war where the plan had never been analyzed for success to his knowledge is Criminal Negligence! Who would send a soldier in to war plan without ever War Gaming the Scenario first?

[garabold]

Hillary Clinton's looks should not factor into her ability to run a country. I'm sure many females thought George W. Bush look young and attactive for his day in age. We now know he is not fit to run a animal shelter. He'd accuse them of carrying diseases of mass destruction and kill them all. His sources bor intelligence would be from the comedy section of the daily newspaper.

[gunownerdan]

Hitlery Clinton is just another rabid anti-gun libnazi. Her extremist voting record in congress is proof enough!

[gunownerdan]

By the way, the Bushes and Clintons are family friends! The sheep will follow.

[bigwhtpony]

SHOW US YOUR HOOTERS! :)

[agnim]

"Hillary Clinton's looks should not factor into her ability to run a country.

Posted by Garabold at 02:23 PM : Feb 01, 2007"

Easy for you to say. LOL

Maybe you are accustomed to and don't mind women who are 'hard on the eyes'? LOL

For an unattractive individual to lead the nation, we already have more than enough otherwise competent men.

If the female (would be leader) can't even bring the basic, pleasing look of a female, what the hell then is she good for? NOTHING!

[j-whitman]

ANOTER WAY FOR HER TO GET MONEY -- SQUEEZE THE OIL OUT OF BUSH'S POCKETS

[johnshaft4]

Are we going to get sane, electable candidates this time? Hint: Hillary is not one of them along with across the aisle nut job Republicans...

[johnshaft4]

People are angry about Cheney's closed door energy pow wow...Let's not forget about Hillary's closed door national health overhaul seance...

[bildooreilly]

People that give their money to politicians are even dumber than the people that give their money to Televangelists... Unless of course you're a huge corporation donating millions for special favors that will make you hundreds of millions. Take our local power company for instance, they donated half a million dollars to both political parties so our great leaders in the state of Illinois let them raise energy rates by 40%.... best government money can buy... both parties are nothing but shysters, crooks, killers, and con men.

[bluestardad]

Sell Crack you pimps there is not a fartsworth of difference between all of you!

[gunnerv1]

Have Hillary sell off her Cattle, she's good at making a buck

[gunnerv1]

Her Looks may not be a factor but her Shrill Voice sure will be!

[gunnerv1]

Why don't she pimp off Bill?

[rray52]

And as the people argue left and right for thier team like rabid sports fans. the politicians and thier hangers on are laughing all the way to the bank. The meida and special interest groups are making a killing off it also.