Cliff LyonWe Did It! (Raised $10,000 for ActBlue - Utah)
Update:
From MyDD - We know that we can get there — Annatopia and Texas bloggers put us over the top to launch their state, and Cliff Lyon in Utah has been a one-man force of nature, raising funds and getting state legislators involved in making the pitch as well.
I am pleased to report that we reached our $10,000 goal this morning when a hat was passed around at Democratic State Party campaign training. We should be proud to hold the distinction of being the first and only state in the Union to have reached our target through grassroots fundraising. All of the other 8 states recently activated on ActBlue, received the bulk of their funds from a national PAC. Read more about it here.
It all began with this post followed by an e-mail to about forty friends and pleas here and on ThankYouStephenColbert.org, ThankYouHarryTaylor.org, and eventually from the State Democratic Party. The biggest THANKS goes to Utah State House Minority Leader Ralph Becker and Utah State Party Executive Director Todd Taylor who personally donated $1670.
Originally published May 8, 2006: We raised $1276 during this weekend experiment in small dollar donations $620 for ActBlue-Utah. Of the 44 people who donated, 14 were from out of state. The total cost of this fundraiser was ZERO.
What does this mean? Online fundraising works. But we already knew that. Howard Dean proved that by raising 42 million dollars over the Internet in 2002 in $25 donations.
With ActBlue, every state level candidate will be able to fully utilize Internet technology to provide a simple, secure, and convenient way for supporters to donate directly to their campaign not just for the 2006 races, but year round and forever.
Another very powerful feature of ActBlue allows anyone to create a fundraising page for their favorite candidates like I did here, and to place a donate button in every e-mail, and ANY website. All money raised goes directly to the candidate monthly with all the reporting required by campaign finance laws.
Why am I doing this? Firstly, it’s too obvious. It is simply, by any objective measure, the most effective way to raise money. I’ve raised money through house parties for candidates. This is easier. If you invite 100 people to a house party, 25 might come, but the ones who don’t would donate if it were too easy.
Secondly, good governance requires a government for the people and by the people. Today, 60-85% of campaign funds come from institutional contributors. The only way to change that is to create an easy way for us couch potatoes to upset that balance.
Why don’t the republicans use this method? They certainly could. I don’t believe they want to. Beneath the veil of “moral values†they are a party of corporate interests, which benefits from a top-down electoral system. They need to control the nomination process to insure their corporate contributors get the results they are paying for. The simple 20-80% balance between Gas & Oil contributions by party speaks loudly to that fact, as does the cost of gasoline, the war in Iraq, and the high decibel fear mongering about terrorists, sex and the secret conspiracy of social engineering to destroy the “natural family.â€
That’s right, the democrats can’t get their shit together enough to stand for anything, but they sure can organize a conspiracy to recruit kids into the gay lifestyle…whatever that is.
I herewith turn this project over to the State Democratic Party and Caucus. You, my friends, and I have paved the way. Lets see if the people who want to lead us will.
Moving forward, this blog will continue to be a platform for open discussion of the issues, policy, and politic. All are invited to submit top posts.
Further reading:
PEW Charitable Trust has the latest research on The internet on there website section called Internet Evolution A decade of adoption: How the internet has woven itself into American life.
Of particular relavance to Utah is Internet usage in rural areas. Turns out nationwide, rural areas are only 10% behind urban and suburban. But Utah as a whole is 10% beyond the nation.
July 29th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
Congratulations Cliff. You are one persitent sonofabitch. A one man show, the leader of a one man army. YOU!
Let’s hope the the sideline sitters get off their whiney little butts and raise some money a nd help restore some sanity to this Bush obsessed state.
Rock on dude!
July 30th, 2006 at 9:15 am
Good job raising the money. However, if the last 2 elections proved anything, it is that while money is important having the means to cheat the system is much more important. That requires real money, and even Deans millions didn’t make any difference, except to fund a structure that is still believing in the rules and having its lunch eaten.
Satan laughing spreads his wings…oh Lord now…
July 30th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
Thank you Janet. I got a lot of help, especially from Ralph Becker and Todd Taylor (Todd kicked in $1600 of his own money)
As soon sa few of our fine Senators put in the monies to they committed to, ActBlue will do their thing and then we can start raising money for other Utah candidates.
You can’t imagine, how frustrating it’s been. We should have had this done months ago. Some people didn’t think we could do it, so they waited until we were closer to our mark. Others in leadership roles don’t have elections this round, so the sense of urgency wasn’t there. Turns out most of our Senators have never taken contributions over the web either, so they don’t think its that important. And while that is a valid point, it doesn’t recognize the very real fact that, as Howard Dean discovered in the year 2000, there is an important segment of donors who will ONLY donate to campaigns given the convenient option of making credit card donations over the Internet.
Sometimes, as the saying goes, we are our own worse enemy.
July 30th, 2006 at 8:35 pm
Wait a minute…are you telling me that the whole ActBlue project has been held up by Utah Senators? Democratic Senators? You have got to be kidding. I donated my $20 in May, I have been waiting to see things kick in. and now you’re telling me the whole process is delayed because elected officials from the Democratic party have not donated?
There’s some real leadershit!
Why don’t you publish the list of contributors?
July 30th, 2006 at 11:53 pm
Let’s not forget the Salt Lake COUNTY Democrats, esp Megan Risbon, Party Chair, who donated $500 during the candidate training on Saturday morning.
February 17th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
propecia…
news…