Over the past few days I have been helping with GOTV and raising money for House candidates throughout the country. I have had some success contacting friends and family on behalf of various close races. This is last minute crunch-time so I have been urging contributors to move quickly so we can get funds to the campaigns before the last ten days. The goal is about $2,000. If each of us can contact five friends for this cause we could make a big difference. If you want to know my method, here it is.
First I call close friends whose political views and interests I know well. Then I explain the urgency of this crucial stage of the campaign. Then I suggest specific areas of the country and races where they might have a special interest because they were born there or still have family and other connections. I review these races, suggesting whom they might want to help. Nearly all of them follow politics and know how close the races are. What I provide is a quick and easy way for them to help. They know that I have done the leg-work to make their contribution go to the right source. And they are grateful to me for helping them help the cause. I tell them about ActBlue.com and how it makes giving money quick and almost painless. I say I will follow-up with an email, giving them the URL as well as the coordinates of the races they want to help. Believe it or not they are grateful to me for taking the time to make this happen. I have contacted five people and all have either contributed or said they would. Though all of my donors have steady incomes, none are wealthy by any means.
Then I send this follow-up letter:
Thanks for your interest in considering a contribution to the vital House races. As we discussed the opportunities for major Democratic gains have been growing faster than has national budgeting and fundraising. As a result there are dozens of races in which underfunded strong Democratic candidates could use some help in beating back their well-funded Republican opponents, many of whom are incumbents. In terms of bang for the buck contributions to House races are more efficient since the cost of running for office, particularly in rural districts, is much lower than for the Senate, especially in large well-populated states with major urban media markets. Thus a contribution here will be a most effective way to help beat Bush and his extremist allies.
There are little more than two weeks left in the campaign and the sooner the candidates get the money the better use they can make of it. The next two or three days are crucial since that is when ad buys and campaign decisions will be made for the final push down to the wire. I would be very grateful if you could help out as soon as possible during these crucial days. I have contributed to a number of these candidates already and many of my friends and family have too. In total I am hoping to raise over two thousand dollars for House candidates in the next two days.
One easy way to contribute is through the http://www.actblue.com/... website home page. Go to the Candidate Directory at the top of the page, and scroll down to Federal Candidates for US House, then click on the State box just to the right. That will lead you to the candidate list. Linked websites for each can be found. Contributions can be done either directly on the candidate's site or through Actblue.com. The advantage of the latter is that if you want to give to several different candidates you need complete the required disclosure form only once.
I have selected a number of races that I think would interest you. Please consider them carefully.
Many thanks,