Back in the early 1990s, I got a fundraising request from Planned Parenthood that I consider one of the most creative campaigns I'd seen.
Pledge a Picket asked donors to commit to donating a certain amount for ever picketer who showed up at a Planned Parenthood site in a given month. The more protestors, the more $ raised.
Simple, brilliant, diabolical. I loved it.
It seems the Democrats are jumping on board in their own way.
According to HuffPo, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a newly formed group designed to get progressive candidates into elected office, along with Howard Dean and Democracy for America, are using Norm Coleman's obstinance to raise money for progressive Democrats, adding perhaps some incentive for him to drop his foolish quest.
The coalition is asking Democrats to pledge a dollar a day until Norm concedes. Their email states:
"Think about how this Dollar A Day will change the game. If thousands of people sign up, and Republicans up for re-election in 2010 see the progressives who are out to defeat them get an infusion of donations each day that Coleman is obstinate, what do you think will happen?"
"Republicans in DC know Al Franken won, but they are bankrolling Norm Coleman's continued court challenges in Minnesota and are encouraging him to drag this thing out forever. For them, it's worth it to keep shelling out money to block the seating of Senator Franken. Put simply, the incentives are all wrong. So let's set the incentives right."
When I received that Pledge-a-Picket mailer back in the 1990s I was convinced it would be a huge success, but then I never heard anything about it again. I worked in marketing for several years and was always taught to determine if a competitor's campaign was successful simply by observing whether they repeated it, and since I never saw Planned Parenthood's campaign repeated I figured it wasn't. But I was delighted to see recently that Plege-A-Picket is alive and well. Under that plan,
You decide on the amount you would like to pledge for each protester (minimum 10¢). When protesters show up on our sidewalks ..., PPSP will count and record their number every day for two months. We will place a large sign outside of both health centers to track pledges and make protesters fully aware that their actions are benefiting PPSP. At the end of the two-month campaign, we will send you an update on protest activities along with a pledge reminder.
I just love the idea of using the other side's own actions against them. And donors have control by the amount they pledge or the length of time they wish to participate. Or as the Norm Dollar a Day campaign says:
The petition allows you to "limit the number of weeks you donate, in case you worry Norm is completely delusional."
What's most interesting about this idea is how it got started. Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), had suggested the idea as a "call to action", criticizing the DSCC for sending out a fundraising email that didn't have plausible theory of change:
Every activist email must have a plausible "theory of change." People should see some concrete theory about why taking action could lead to a desired result.
But some people choose to inflame people’s passions just to get their email addresses (and, more likely than not, to fundraise from them — as opposed to later engaging them in quality activism). This sullys the online activism process for the rest of us.
He then joined forces with Democracy for America to reverse the incentives on the Republicans, who currently have no reason not to encourage Norm to keep up the fight. Now, for every day that he keeps his ridiculous battle going, progressive Democrats get money.
According to The New York Times, the campaign has raised $15,000 so far.
To donate to NormDollar, click here.