Last fall, I made my first donation to a political campaign. Never in my life had I anticipated doing this, but I became convinced of the absolute imperative of returning Congress to Democratic hands, the Howard Dean 50-state strategy for doing so, and the value of small-money contributions in making it happen.
And so, I sent my first political donation ever of $20.06 to Victoria Wulsin (OH-02), a candidate exemplary on her own merit - and a contribution to Ms. Wulsin was also a contribution against Jean Schmidt, one of the most repulsive members of Congress. Later my second contribution went to John Laesch, another excellent candidate in his own right – who also happened to be running against the vile Dennis Hastert.
But like many in the blogosphere, what I want to happen most in politics right now is for Al Gore to run for President. I have long since pledged to myself to work night and day campaigning for Mr. Gore if he decides to enter the race. And over the weekend, I’ve made a resolution to take the ante up one step further. If Al Gore runs for President, then I’m "all-in" – I will donate the maximum contribution of $2,300 to his campaign.
I really can’t afford to do this. I'm recently out of graduate school; my first salary in my first real job is $45,000, and I support both my wife (who is still a graduate student herself) and I on this salary. I have six-digit student-loan debt, and like many graduate students, I racked up five-digit credit card debt in grad school (though we're making steady progress here.) I’m in a field where my salary will be expected to rise, and for now, we’re living frugally and doing fine – though it can be a little tough, and a contribution of this magnitude would hurt.
And I don’t really think I can afford to NOT do this. I cannot help but think that we have but one chance at true leadership on environmental change, Middle East and foreign policy issues in the aggregate, job creation, economic policy, and disaster preparedness at home, and more. I believed in 2000 that Al Gore had the potential to be one of the best Presidents in history, and I believe it so much more today.
And so, if it is going to take $100,000,000 to elect the American President in 2008, then Al Gore will need 43,478 donations of the maximum $2,300 (or the equivalent) in order to compete. I find that absurd and repulsive – but it also is what it is: we can either choose not to compete and lose, or we can choose to compete and have a chance at winning it all. So if that’s what it takes, then the Gore campaign can count on a $2,300 donation from me. It will take "giving until it hurts" to a new level, but I can do it and I will do it.
On Sunday, Mike Stark authored a diary in support of signatories and donors to a "Draft Al Gore for President" website. I offer this diary as a follow-up. For those of us that have taken to offering small-dollar contributions to political campaigns, perhaps we might begin to think about what we could offer in the next eleven months to a Gore primary campaign. I’m guessing that there are others among us who could, if they really wanted to, come up with a substantial contribution of $500, $1,000, or $2,300 that would allow him to compete.
Mr. Gore, I’m in for the maximum that I can give. Who’s with me?
EDIT: it seems that the maximum campaign donation has increased to $2,300; diary edited to reflect this.