There have been many threads on how to sway DNC members and how to convince them to vote for or against Dean, Vilsack or Ickes. As a group, we have learned that it is hard to pressure individual DNC members.
Only a minority of DNC members run for elected office. While DFA correctly suggests taking over the party machinery at the precinct level, party regulars are often free to name committeemen to "represent" precincts where no Democrat dare show his face.
Much to the grief of activists, Terry McAuliffe demonstrated quite well that the DNC understands the language of money. Just as one should not enter Paris without speaking a few words of French, perhaps we should speak the language of campaign financing to the DNC.
I know that Kossacks raised something on the order of $700,000 for Democratic candidates. While that's a lot of money, our in-kind and labor donations may raise the Kossack donation to Soros levels. Perhaps the thought of seven or eight figures going elsewhere might prove convincing to the DNC.
For this reason, I recommend that we add up the cash value of our monetary, in-kind and labor donations. To do so, I suggest the following methods.
Monetary donations are simple enough to calculate. Please only count donations to the general election campaign funds, not to the 527s. We can't threaten withholding funds from the DNC that were never sent in their general direction.
Travel donations can be calculated thus: If you travelled 60 miles to work for the Kerry campaign and didn't seek reimbursement, assuming travel reimbursement at 32.5 cents/mile, that would be worth $19.50. The IRS only accepts the return trip as deductible, so only calculate the mileage one way. If you went to more than one place, don't count the first leg of the trip from your home, but count the rest.
Since the going rate for canvassers was $500/week or $12.50/hour, use that to calculate the value of volunteer time. If you volunteered more than eight hours in one day or forty hours in one week, count overtime at $18.75/hour. We are Democrats, after all!
As an example, here was my contribution to Kerry/Edwards 2004.
Cash: $60.00 ($10 to KE04, $50 to GELAC) I did not give any money through Kos.
Travel: 40 miles to Chicago, IL twice, 60 miles to Buchanan, MI twice, 200 miles @ $0.325 = $65.00
Labor: Professional canvassers get paid $500/week, or $12.50/hour. I spent three hours working phones in Merrillville, IN, eleven hours getting out the vote November 1-2, eight hours canvassing in Iowa and Wisconsin, sixteen hours of bus travel to and from Iowa and Wisconsin. Not including travel: 21 hours straight time ($12.50/hr), 1 hour OT ($18.75/hour), total $281.25. I don't include the twelve hours spent on busses, since the campaign could have hired locals to canvass.
Food provided by local Democratic Party offices: five pizza lunches or donut grabs @ $5.00, $5.00 in soda and snacks: $30.00
Summarized:
Cash: $60.00
Travel: $65.00
Labor: $281.25 (excluding travel on busses)
Meals: ($30.00)
Total: $376.25
I know that my contribution was paltry compared to that of many Kossacks, but 2500 of us contributing $300 in kind plus the $700,000 raised here gives the DNC over a million reasons to think twice about alienating us.
Answering the poll below would help obtain a rough estimate of the value of the time we donated to the Kerry/Edwards campaign.