A "Nationwide Call Bank Army" for state and local Democratic candidates and progressive causes.
As some of you know, about a year ago, together here on Daily Kos, we launched Bold Blue Media, an organization committed to helping state and local Democratic candidates and progressive causes win. The model is simple a one: liberals from all over the country subscribe to our monthly digital news magazine and the revenue from that allows us to run our operations. This means that all the things campaigns need to run strongly and win don't need to cost a fortune for our side; That our side can have access to all the best stuff money can buy - without having to raise obscene amounts of money. This means we're finally able to take the fight to the GOP on a more level playing field. (And it's about time!).
Well, since last year, I've brought on an amazing team. Not only have they each completed extensive training modules for our training center with topics ranging from strategy development, to media training, to messaging, to field operations, to social media - but they are also helping campaigns directly whenever they need expertise that can only come from decades of political campaign experience. I am so honored to be working alongside such an amazing team.
Our 24/7 online training center is almost ready to roll.
And we've helped a few candidates already, even without a lot of outreach. Here's what one of them has to say about us at Bold Blue Media.
I have to say that, as volunteer campaign manager for my mother’s campaign for North Carolina House, I was quite pleasantly surprised with the advice and support Bold Blue Media gave to her without the first dime spent. The folks at Bold Blue Media know what they are talking about in any location, because they have paid attention and done their research. They seek to empower candidates on their level, in their locale, because they truly care about good, progressive candidates having the clearest path to victory. I would recommend Bold Blue Media to anyone who is scratching their head about any aspect of their campaign. They will give you the support you need!!
Asa A. Gregory
Campaign Manager,
Bobi Gregory for North Carolina House
As wonderful as all of this is, I believe this one thing, the "Nationwide Call Bank Army", could do more that anything to get Democrats in elected seats come November.
A lot of you have worked on small state and local campaigns. One of the biggest challenges is the small volunteer base. You have to reach thousands of voters, you don't have the capacity to run endless TV or radio ads (it's all retail) and it's hard to make the consistent voter contact you need to in order to win. Candidates work. Their volunteers work. There's only so much you can do on the weekends. We lose. Sometimes by just dozens of votes.
This Nationwide Call Bank Army is going to change that.
I've worked out a deal with a virtual phone bank platform provider. It has all the functionality of the better known providers. This provider will allow Bold Blue Media to contract for a "white label" platform which will allow an unlimited number of separate, secure and fully functional sub-accounts. EXCITING!
The platform cost would be prohibitive to a small campaign - $500/month for 12 months - but with your help I can have the confidence to sign this contract, begin hiring callers and notifying campaigns of its availability.
The idea is simple: to prevent the traditional drop off in votes from the high profile top-of-ticket races. To do this, we'll help campaigns reach their voters, reminding them to vote down ticket and in particular, for the candidate's specific race. We will highlight an issue that the candidate would work on if elected and thereby make it personal to the voter.
A lot of states are featuring really high profile races this year, either at the federal level or at the gubernatorial level. Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Texas and more. Imagine what we could do if we could retain even a fraction of the top-of-ticket votes for Dems running for school boards and state houses and county commissions and sheriffs? We can do this. I really believe we can.
So I'm asking for you to partner with me - and with the campaigns - to get this thing running as soon as possible. I'd like to have this ready to go for campaigns by September. That means setting up the platform, beginning the arduous job of screening and hiring callers, reaching out to campaigns to let them know this will be available and preparing the accounting infrastructure to make things run smoothly.
My ideal (and the Bold Blue Media model) is that concerned progressives and Democrats from all over the country cover the infrastructure costs so I can keep costs super low for candidates. So far, we've done this because of your support. It's still just me and my husband in my dad's basement carrying out the day to day operations of this vision. We do it because we believe it matters and we know it's needed. But we can't do it alone.
Please
subscribe to Bold Blue Magazine. You can choose your subscription level beginning with just $5/month (that's only $60 for a whole year and would be a tremendous help). You'll get an awesome
digital magazine every month, regular updates about what we're doing and you'll really be at the vanguard of
action at that state and local level. Nobody else is doing this for candidates. At least not on the Dem side and not at our prices.
A year ago we started something amazing here. I'm hoping that together we can take this thing to the next level.
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Madison Paige (aka mdmslle) is publisher of Bold Blue Magazine and co-founder of Bold Blue Media Alliance, Inc., a grassroots-supported Democratic campaign support and management firm dedicated to strengthening state and local Democratic candidates and progressive cause campaigns. Bold Blue Magazine is more than a magazine, it’s a movement. Your subscription to Bold Blue Magazine makes expert training and services available to state and local democratic candidates and progressive causes at ridiculously affordable prices. If state and local matter you, JOIN THE MOVEMENT.