Preface:
Before anyone gets the wrong idea, this diary is not going to be a negative piece about any other candidate running for President, including Beto who I’ve avoided referencing in the title. Beto’s running a solid campaign and I think he should be applauded for doing so.
That out of the way, let me begin with this:
www.nytimes.com/...
Ms. Harris raised the second highest amount, $12 million. And despite Mr. Sanders’s advantages, Mr. O’Rourke’s campaign touted, loudly, that he actually had out-raised Mr. Sanders in his first 24 hours as a candidate: $6.1 million to $6 million. But the new federal disclosures show that Mr. O’Rourke relied upon a bit of accounting finesse to score that headline: Nearly $300,000 of his first-day haul was actually general-election funds raised above the limit that he can spend in the primary contest.
Huh.. That’s .. interesting...
Now, I suppose one could argue that this is one way to control the news cycle. And I’ll let others come to their own conclusions about the decision-making/campaign tactics involved there; that’s not really what I’m interested in talking about.
The reason I put this diary forward is because I know many people within the Bernie-sphere were a bit shocked and some even dismayed by Beto’s Day 1 fundraising; in fact, I think everyone was a bit blown away. And there’s no denying Beto had an amazing Day 1, and the fact that he is running a great campaign for President!
But there’s also nothing wrong with acknowledging that Bernie’s grassroots supporters are deserving of whatever kudos there are for achieving their $6M haul, which is in fact (as we now know) the biggest haul for any Presidential candidate in a single day.
fortune.com/...
Senator Bernie Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist, received $5.9 million from about 223,000 donors in the 24 hours after he announced his repeat bid for the U.S. presidency.
In total, the Vermont independent has raised $6 million, with small-dollar pledges mirroring the average donation of $27 from his 2016 run, according to his campaign. The fundraising rose from the $4 million the campaign said he amassed as of the evening of Feb. 19, the day he announced.
Fundraising this cycle will be of critical importance. While Senator Sanders focuses his efforts on campaigning in the early states as well as the general election battlegrounds; he’s being funded almost entirely by small-dollar online donors and recurring monthly pledges. So it’s important that the left-wing grassroots sees the impact their efforts, time, sweat and hard-earned donations can has on this race.
And for those not already aware, there’s a pretty cool website, BernieBag.com, that’s keeping track of Bernie’s numbers — but will likely get a massive update once more reporting hits about the candidate’s respective April 15th FEC filings. Here’s snapshot in time (as of this diary’s writing) of the infographics from BernieBag.com to give you an idea of the kind of data being tracked:
Good stuff!
So let’s continue to drive this campaign through the second quarter of 2018! And remember that building out this kind of grassroots fundraising army will not only be useful in securing the nomination, but most importantly, in evicting President Cheeto from the White House come the general election.
Let’s get it done in Q2!