More than 300 donors!
The first exhalation in a week. Who knew that our announcement of a platform on campaign finance reform was going to generate as much interest as it did? From the press? From my opponent, courtesy of the press? From the public?
In my decision to run with it, I found myself out on the track with a whole group of people who were not only messaging, but were helping with fundraising. Tim, then Gaye, then George, then Maggie, and then it just mushroomed into e-mails and phonecalls and cellphone calls, until we suddenly flew past our 300th donor.
Here, now, are the elements of a campaign functioning well. True, taught by Steve, Bob, Jeff, and Emily in ways that didn’t quite fit my rookie campaign in 2006. But, taught in ways that I have now made my own, like showing pride in being a grassroots activist asking for whatever change a contributor can afford because of a belief that democracy can only function when The People are empowered to participate. And, in changing “the ask” (as it is referred to by politicos) from “maxing out at $15,500” to $1, I have raised my voice, people have listened, and people have responded.
(9:00 am) 2 more new donors needed.
I push out another e-mail.
I make calls to root donors to ask them to get on the phone.
It is the thrill of nearly there, coupled with 298 just doesn’t sound as big as 300.
$1,000 individual limits as per my campaign pledge. $2,000 Political Action Committee limits as per my campaign pledge. And? And? Will we be able to say the “3” in this trio: 300 donors.
(5:00 pm) No response from my opponent to my request that he adopt my campaign finance reform pledge. We now know from newspaper coverage that he is opposed to public funding of elections. We can surmise that he already has individual contributions in excess of $1,000. No matter what he will want to say for the rest of this race, only our campaign will have a valid claim to grassroots status. Our first victory.
The magic number is 9 to get to 300 donors.
We are well over 300 contributions, but I am after 300 donors.
It’s down to the last day before the target of January 15.
I faxed and mailed my opponent a blank copy of the federal candidate financial disclosure form that I am asking him to complete. I don’t want him to have any excuse that he didn’t know how or where to get the form.
Already, he has hurled his first personal insult at me. It’s only January. With ten months to Election Day, where is he intending to go, and who is going to be willing to listen to yet another incumbent who is a bully on the playground instead of a debater in the classroom.
Winning numerous contributions at lower dollar amounts is harder work than chasing a few big dollar contributions. Our campaign is going to do the hard work because it is the right way to raise campaign contributions in our democracy.
The likelihood that he directly responds to my two letters to him pertaining to the campaign pledge appears less than zero.
It will define us for the public.
When you run, you have to be able to pull out extra energy when you sense you are closing in on targets. It is a rhythm of run, pace, run, pace. What you had for breakfast. Whether you systematically checked the tension on each bend in your shoelaces at the start, instead of just tying the bow. Because, when you have to turn it up, there is no time for corrections. You either pull it out and run through the ribbon or you don’t.
There is a glimmer of possibility that we can make democracy happen in this long-forgotten race. It has been 20 years since the incumbent faced a Democratic opponent.
I find myself caught between Gandhi and the NYS Lottery. Live the change you want to see in the world – it only takes $1 and a dream.
The count lowers to 23 new donors to hit our target of finding the 300th donor by January 15. The on-lines are a hard count. The pledges are the hopeful count. One quickly learns as a candidate that every pledge, though well-intentioned, may not arrive.
What was it like, that day, that hot August day in 1920 when women won the right to vote? How must those risk takers have felt, those women who went against the odds to fight for their beliefs?
Our first media alert was picked up by one newspaper and one radio station, a not uncommon response this early in a race. I stood on that corner in Seneca Falls, answering questions. It was on that same corner, all those years ago, that the women’s suffrage movement began.
My opponent chose to dispatch an employee to greet us, apparently rather than having us walk over to his office. I gave her the letter, my pledge, and a blank pledge for his signature.
The response was overwhelming to my e-blast about this development. E-mails are flying from high school friends, fellow poets, family members, Democratic Committee members, union members, other candidates, electeds… Apparently, there is even broader support on the issue of campaign finance reform that we projected.
Several new donors emerge.
An absolute flurry of activity, within which I am trying to hear myself with sufficient clarity to complete the written materials I need for tomorrow.
My friend Patrick calls to debate every imaginable aspect of campaign finance reform from every angle we can think of. Have we missed an idea? Have we overlooked an argument?
I fall asleep with the words upon my lips, “On Election Day, all voters are equal. On Election Day, the poorest voter is as powerful as the wealthiest voter. On Election Day, the hard-working middle class is the majority…”
No Ferris Bueller’s Day Off for this campaign. I blasted out the challenge to find 50 new donors by January 15. Near instantly, 6 arrive on-line. Through call time, I grab 6 more. Who and where are 38 more of you?
Already on board are Congressional candidates, Assembly candidates, poets, professors, teachers, Veterans…people from all walks of life.
Our report is going to be a quilt of life as we know it in the 54th.
Let’s make a resolution together. All together now: we resolve to win this election!
Only if we win can we resolve in 2009 to enact change. Change to universal health insurance, affordable, available to all New Yorkers. Change to new jobs, in technology and manufacturing, arising through green energy research and development. Change to conservation of the Finger Lakes and Lake Ontario region with an eye towards ecotourism. Change to simplify operations of small businesses. Change to what we have longed for the past 28 years that the incumbent has been in office.
Our campaign is homegrown and grassroots. Our support comes from local voters, like Jackie in Williamson who contributed $74.11 in quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies towards “Change For Change.” Like the Lansing Democratic Committee who cheered us on to the conclusion of our 162-mile Walk & Talk last September. Like Ann in Webster, a volunteer, who also got her son involved.
Resolve to get involved. Tell us what matters to you. Sign up now as a volunteer.
Contribute $1. You can make a difference for Democracy.