President's Day is February 18th: Raise $6 million for Obama in one day and send a message to the voters....and beyond
Supporters of Ron Paul came up with the idea of a one day online mega-fundraiser for their guy last Fall. In one day they raised $6 million through online word of mouth.
No one was more surprised than Ron Paul.
Since then the same idea has been tried twice--successfully--for Barack Obama. More than $9 million was raised from those two efforts.
So here's a pitch for holding another one day fundraiser for Obama this month---ten days from now on February 18th---President's Day---with a target of raising $6 million from across the country.
Money is both the root of evil and the mother's milk of elections. But fixing the system will need to be the hard work of future days. For now raising money is critical to the success of any presidential campaign.
Obama's unlikely march on the White House is succeeding because his message resonates with a broad coalition of people who are angry enough about our American politics as usual to throw aside the establishment candidate to "turn the page and begin to write the next great chapter in the American story."
As a result of his grassroots support Obama has raised as much money as Hillary Clinton has from her big-money backers. And now that many of her donors have maxed out their $2,300 per person primary contributions, Hillary is running into money trouble.
Clinton's donor base is so narrow compared to Obama's that his campaign can now organize and deliver his message wider and more deeply across the country. (And hey, wasn't that the point of campaign finance reforms limiting the amount a single individual could contribute in the first place?)
Now is the time when Obama can finally take advantage of this much broader base of donors (and growing base of new supporters) to turn the tide in the campaign for the nomination.
I believe if Obama can build a 3-to-1 or 4-to-1 advantage in fund-raising this month we will have all we need to win key primaries like Virginia, Ohio, and Texas in the process and win the nomination.
The big reason, of course, is that this money means a better funded ground game, more advertising, and more events in those states. Amen.
But think about this: beyond the ground game and media, even beyond the actual votes in the primaries, a fund-raising landslide this month for Obama can also tip the battle to win those very special votes that are becoming more and more critical: super-delegates.
Almost everyone of the super-delegates to the Democratic convention is a member of congress. They know all too well that each campaign donation represent a kind of bet by a donor that a candidate is worth not only voting for, but supporting with money. And the super-delegates know from personal experience just how hard is is to make that case to donors.
Bluntly put, I believe that the super-delegates are going to be knocked loose from their establishment moorings when they see how the passion for Obama as a candidate translates into hard dollars in the campaign coffers. It's a message that's got a lot more power to any super-delegate than the that rolling average of the last five opinion polls.
If our grassroots movement decided that on one specific day of our choosing--like February 18th this month--we're going to make money fall from the sky for Obama, the message will be heard loud and clear by the democratic party establishment.
We are more powerful than all the bankrollers and bundlers from Wall Street, K Street, and Hollywood put together.
I worked as a lowly precinct coordinator for Obama here in my home town of Minneapolis. As you know, we carried the Minnesota DFL caucus by 2-to-1 over Hillary Clinton this past Tuesday, despite polls saying that she was leading Obama by five points or more.
We did it by organizing a ground game that put each of us in front of our neighbors, making the case for Obama, one by one. We did it with media and viral campaigns like Will.i.am's video "Yes We Can." And we did it with rallies like the one last Saturday where Obama inspired a crowd of 20,000 people at the Target Center in Minneapolis with his vision of a new America.
All of that took people passionately committed to his campaign. And it also took money.
I've seen the power of money in politics, both for good and for evil. Now we have a chance to use that power for good---to push Barack Obama over the top in this month and break the deadlock with Hillary Clinton.
I can't think of a more appropriate day to focus a one day Obama fundraising marathon than the day we choose to honor American presidents, most especially another state legislator and political outsider from Illinois who came to lead change in Washington at a critical time in the American story--Abraham Lincoln.
Hillary Clinton can write a check for $5 million to keep her campaign afloat. It's left to the rest of us to help Barack Obama.
In 48 hours Will.i.am's video was seen by over a million people last weekend--all by word of mouth. If half of those people sent in $10, we would have a $6 million dollar day.
Let's make this President's Day, February 18th, a day to honor our next great president, Barack Obama.