A wildly ambitious idea appeared in a diary here on Monday. Can supporters of a mainstream candidate match (and even surpass!) the unprecedented one-day fundraising effort recently orchestrated by followers of a wacko fringe candidate?
(You can click the picture to reach the contribution form on the Campaign website, johnedwards.com.)
If I were to say that our chances of matching the pre-Iowa fundraising alchemy of the Ron Paulies was "unlikely" - well, I think that would be quite an understatement. I would think anticipating a one-day draw of even 1/2 million - let alone 7 million - would be quite optimistic.
But so what? Let's be optimistic. Let's be ambitious. After all, we're supporting a candidate who knows that having ambitious goals is the first step toward achieving great things:
It may seem like an impossible task to end poverty, but that's what skeptics have always said about the great struggles we have faced. If we can put a man on the moon, cure polio, and put a library on a little chip, then we can end poverty.
--John Edwards
I propose a great national goal, because Americans believe in achieving great things. Like JFK challenging America to land a man on the moon, a national goal of eradicating poverty will sharpen our focus, marshal our resources and at the end of the day, bring out our best.
--John Edwards
Our candidate has set a goal and proposed pragmatic policies to reduce poverty in America by 1/3 over 10 years, to end it over 30 years, and to seriously combat severe poverty overseas. Our candidate has proposed a plan that will afford every American the opportunity to get a college education. Our candidate led the pack in proposing a viable plan to ensure healthcare coverage for every American, and our candidate proposed exactly how a strong president can use the bully pulpit to jumpstart this legislation. Our candidate also has led the pack in proposing ambitious but critically necessary policies to combat global warming.
This wild-and-crazy fundraising idea was something dreamed up by DailyKos member KingOneEye - it's purely a netroots effort, not a campaign "gimmick" - so we won't have a thermometer or "bat" to follow the progress of donations.
But here's a small-scale simulation: How many hits can a little poll in a little side-bar diary get? Obviously we won't see indications of millions of dollars pledged because, heck, even a straw poll on the front page of DailyKos garners only several thousand hits for a top-rated candidate like Edwards. But I do expect - especially if this diary makes the Recommended list - that I'll get enough hits on my poll to indicate thousands of dollars worth of pledges flowing to the Edwards campaign - which will be a small but inspiring reflection of the much, much greater amount that's actually going to arrive at the campaign website throughout the day on Friday, from folks like you and me all across the 'net. So rec this diary, hit this poll, and go ahead and prove me right (or wrong!)
UPDATE: Remember after voting to scroll up and click that little "Recommend" button on the right sidebar. ;-)
UPDATE 2: Wow! ka-CHING-A-LING! Look at those pledges! How high can we go? Please post comments, too...the more comments, the longer we'll stay on the Recommended List!
UPDATE 3: I just want to re-iterate something I wrote in the comment thread:
This is not a bat. It's a scale model of a bat
If this little diorama in this little diary is wracking up tens of thousands of dollars, then the Edwards campaign is in for a real treat tomorrow today.
UPDATE 4: You all ROCK!!! And remember, the majority of our contributions will be automatically doubled by the matching-funds system! Thanks too for all your rec's and comments, keep 'em coming! The generosity and enthusiasm reflected in this poll is just a sample of what's happening all around the 'net, all across the country today!
UPDATE 5: I've started a new diary and continuation poll, since this one fell off the recommended list...