Originally posted at mydd
$833,599.60
That's how much cash the New York DSCC has on hand as of their last filing. It's 5 days out from a once in a generation cycle and they are sitting on close to million freakin' bucks. The scuttlebutt I hear is that they are saving money for the next cycle. No, really. You read that right. They are hoarding for the future.
Some background and why this is pissing me off so freaking much is in order.
>I'm up here in the Hudson Valley busting ass for a fantastic State Senate candidate, Brian Keeler, our very own NYBri. We are running a totally people powered campaign. We have a paid staff of...
...none.
We get a bigger bang for the buck than just about any campaign in the country. LarryInNYC recently referred to us thusly:
NYBri's campaign is the 50 state strategy.
Jump the dots for more...
We've done much online outreach and people from across the district and from across the nation have responded. At the beginning of the race, we were told we would be total rock stars if we could raise $40K. As of today we've raised just under $100K. The last challenger for our opponent, a 26 year republican incumbent, raised $4K.
And we've been the most frugal stewards of that money, too. I made our TV spots for about 8 bucks. They're not bad either and we're saturating the district for the last two weeks with 'em.
And they're working, too. Brian has to introduce himself less and less these days.
What is bothering me so much is that we've had so many repeat donors. We've had people from all over the country give and give and give. We love to read the messages attached to the checks and PayPal contributions. They're what keep us going many days
.
And now I read that our state DSCC is sitting on over $800K days out from the best chance they've had to take back the state senate in 40 fucking years?, that they are hoarding that money for the next cycle, the one without names like Spitzer, Clinton and Cuomo at the top of the ticket? Seriously. WTF?
If I were a contributor to the NY DSCC, I'd be furious! The stated aim of the NY DSCC is to elect democrats to the New York State Senate and yet we haven't seen a dime from them. They dropped some cash in a few races a couple of days ago, much too late to, ya know, actually help all that much.
So, here's what I want to know. If the NY DSCC exists for the sole purpose of electing dems to the SS, and they are sitting on close to a million bucks in the last week of the cycle for the ages, why does anyone donate to them in the first place? Do their donors have any idea that the money they gave the DSCC to elect dems to the SS isn't being much used for that purpose?
Seriously. Why do they exist at all?
If there's any silver lining here, it's that we're gonna win this sucker despite the NY DSCC. We're gonna win this thing despite many of the entities and individuals that one would presume exist to make such victories happen. When Brian takes the oath, he doesn't owe anyone other than the constituents of the 41st District a flippin' thing.
What makes this so special to me is that this really is a special campaign. Brian isn't some pol that is "hip" to the blogsosphere/netrroots community, he's not some guy that stops by and talks to us, he's one of us who just happened to decide to roll up the sleeves and run for office. Recruiting from our own community and running/financing our own candidates is a pretty big deal in my book. It changes everything and sometimes I daydream about a whole freakin' slew of such candidates.
That day gets closer every minute.
For some more on what we're doing up here, check out my dKos series on our campaign:
Illustrated: What a People Powered Kossack Campaign Actually Looks Like
Inside NYBri HQ: Wherein I Save Our Ad Buy With a Paperclip and a Salad Fork. (New TV Ads!)
Inside Keeler HQ: Big Dog Edition! Plus Brian Sings! (Video!)
Inside NYBri HQ: Debate Video Edition Plus More Photos!
Inside NYBri HQ: Kossacks Hit Streets Edition!
Inside NYBri HQ: Spitzer, Ninjas, Hall Not Oates Edition!
Oh, and those $8 ads? Take a look:
Oh, and I should just mention that this is me speaking here and therefore isn't titled as one of my "Inside NYBri HQ" diaries. These opinions about the NY DSCC are mine and don't, ahem, represent the views of anyone else. Really.
Maybe you'd like to tell them what a great job they're doing:
Democratic Senate Campaign Committee
107 Washington Ave., 2nd Floor
Albany, NY 12210
T: 518 462-2867
F: 518 462-1082
hat tip to MrMacMan for reminding me to put up some contact info.