On Monday night, I saw something on my screen that made me do what you see on the cartoons sometimes, where a character will rub their eyes in a very exaggerated fashion because they thought their eyes were tricking them.
I had seen an update about the campaign which indicated that Bowen had received 1472 donations on ActBlue - which I knew was an increase of nearly 500 donations from less than 24 hours earlier. So to get back home from work yesterday and see those numbers, I literally did rub my eyes and check again.
Not only was that report accurate when it was posted, but when I checked what the current numbers were, the number of contributions showing on Debra's ActBlue page was up to 1645 and counting. That was more than 750 contributions -- just in one day! That number is now up to 1813 (and still going).
In case you hadn't guessed the reason for all the activity, it has been due to Democracy for America members across the country who have been taking action after receiving an email from Gov. Howard Dean today, who sent a message for the DFA to its membership:
People are already looking ahead to 2012 as the big election year -- but there are important races happening across the country right now.
One of them is in California, where Secretary of State Debra Bowen is running in a special election to replace retiring Democrat Jane Harman in Congress.
Now, I rarely endorse candidates in primaries, but Debra is a progressive leader and we need her in Congress.
Join me in supporting a real progressive for Congress -- Please contribute $10 to Debra Bowen's campaign right now.
The Tea Party Republican leadership in the House has launched the most radical right-wing assault on the middle class that I have ever seen. They're working to destroy healthcare reform, workers' rights, women's rights, Social Security -- not to mention the environment, student loans and much, much more.
Now more than ever we need progressive leaders like Debra in Congress to stand up for our shared progressive values and fight back against this right-wing attack.
Debra has a history of progressive leadership. As California's Secretary of State, she turned the state into a national leader for election integrity and protection. As a state legislator before that, she was one of the state's greatest advocates for government transparency and environmental protection. She has exactly the sort of experience and integrity we need in Congress.
Elect a real progressive in California -- Contribute $10 to Debra Bowen now.
The fight to take back the House from the far right and elect a progressive majority starts now -- it starts with electing Debra Bowen. Join me in supporting her today.
Thank you, Peter, for everything you do. Working together, we're unstoppable.
-Howard
Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
Founder, Democracy for America
How significant is this? Well, consider that the over $14,500 raised over that 24 hour period is the biggest one day total for Debra Bowen on ActBlue since the campaign began*, and that it comes from an appeal which asked for only a $10 contribution! The average donation during this time period is less than $20 - far below the campaign's average ActBlue donation to that point ($84) - and yet because so many people stepped up to pitch in, it was the biggest day of the campaign on ActBlue so far.
I'm thrilled to see DFA members step up for Debra in such big numbers!
I noticed that the DFA page for Debra was the #1 Today's Hot Pages list on ActBlue's front page. As I write this (Wed 10PM pacif), DFA's Support Debra page has only dropped to #2.
There couldn't be a bigger contrast between the online donation profile of Debra Bowen's contributors and Janice Hahn's. Even before a extra hundred small denomination donors came in for Bowen today, she was able to claim, via tweet:
About 90% of my campaign contribs are $100 or less. The grass roots and the net roots have my back, not the special interests!
That percentage continues to go up.
Janice Hahn on the other hand over the past three days received a grand total of 2 donations on ActBlue - and since I was checking each day I saw them both come in. One was for $275 and the other for $1000. (Started at 292 $63,097, then 293 $63,372, then 294 $64,372. Hahn's page is here; sorry for no screen shots). So not only has Bowen received literally 400 times as many ActBlue donations as Hahn in the same period, but she's raised nearly every single penny of that from donors giving less than $100 whereas Hahn didn't receive even one penny from anybody who gave less than $275. Talk about playin' to different crowds!
*Yes, I do keep track of ActBlue stats on a daily basis and revel in my geekdom.
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Saturday's Cavassing Kickoff
I've previously written diaries about the campaign I dubbed "Let's Get Calling" to encourage folks to get involved with phonebanking virtually for Debra. That effort continues, but this weekend, I left my phone in my pocket and took to the hilly streets of Manhattan Beach to do canvassing in this election that's going to have absentee ballots mailed out in just two weeks!
I was prepared with my hat, sunscreen and sunglasses, and went solo covering targeted voters over a few square mile area. With my route planned out, I was able to cover the area pretty efficiently. The level of awareness of the campaign is low, and it showed pretty clearly with some voters. I live and breathe this kind of stuff, but for non-politics geeks, it was news that they were currently unrepresented in Congress and that they were going to be voting in just more than a month.
It took me a few houses to figure out how to organize my things at the door, and I quickly realized that I didn't need to write anything down during any encounter with voters. That was helpful, because I felt it easier to get people to engage if they didn't see me standing there with pen in hand. In addition, I took off my hat and sunglasses when approaching the door and stepped back from it after my combined knock/ring to avoid scaring people off from opening the door.
I had a number of good interactions with people during the day. There were some who said they didn't know there was going to be an election, and more who admitted to not knowing much about the candidates. I sympathized with people about having yet another special election to deal with. (The two recent ones were triggered after the death of our State Senator Jenny Oropeza). I had a couple of these folks who just wanted a reason to make up their minds, and were frankly easily convinced. I left thinking how amazing it was that people were willing to give you their vote just by asking for it.
Debra's clear statement's calling out the Republican war on Medicare and Medicaid for what it is (see my sig line) came in handy in some conversations. In other situations, it was about the campaign theme of job growth and green jobs or Debra's accomplishments at making our voting systems more secure, an effort for which she received the JFK Profile in Courage award in 2008.
By the end of the effort, I'd knocked on 75 doors, had some meaningful conversations with voters, and was treated to some really amazing views of the ocean along the way. I was just one of a good number of Bowen volunteers who hit the streets on Saturday, and it felt great to do my part. I very much enjoyed my beer once I had dropped off my materials at the campaign office and returned home.
(This diary's was originally posted 4/12, and I'm republishing it with substantial updates.)