$17,419,765.
There can be no doubt that the netroots made a huge difference in this campaign season--we've raised millions of dollars for candidates this cycle, and helped change a few race dynamics. Just look above--that's the amount ActBlue has forwarded to candidates since its inception two years ago.
We turned out 34 Republican congresscritters last night--even though some reports claim we were outspent by $100 million during the course of the campaign cycle. Could you imagine the losses we could have inflicted on the with an extra $100 million?
I have an idea for how we can get started on getting that extra $100 million: spare change now for big changes in 2008.
There are approximately 720 days until the "cutoff" date for the election in 2008. That's $138,888.89 per day.
A lot of money, right? Maybe. But not if a million people set aside 14 cents per day. Not 14 bucks, 14 cents. That's about one bottle of soda from a vending machine, a small instead of a large coffee, or a donut or bagel each week.
14 cents is just $4.20 per month. That's one brown bag lunch, one less video, one less pack of cigarettes, one less newsstand magazine--you get the idea. A year's savings--$50. That's one dinner out, a trip to the movies, a few books.
A little change--from a lot of people--could make a tidal wave of difference in 2008. We shouldn't kid ourselves; we've just gotten started. There's still lots of work to be done.
Of course, for some people, that's still a lot of money. But how about time? Do you have one hour per month to volunteer? 20 hours of volunteer work, if you reckoned it at minimum wage, is like $100 in cash. And a lot of campaigns could certainly use the volunteer work just as much.
I'm planning on getting started today with this plan. Any other volunteers?