The Weekender: Act Blue Gets It Together

[Omaha Steve]

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/06/the_weekender_a.html

June 30, 2006
The Weekender: Act Blue Gets It Together

Welcome to the Weekender. It's a new On Call experiment. Each Friday, we'll end the day with a longish post that probes an idea or a contested race or a political development that fascinates us. Last week, tackled the conventional wisdom that Sen. George Allen's 2008 hopes will be bruised by his competitive race and provide eight other reasons why Allen/Webb is this cycle's Daschle/Thune. This week, we're looking at two models for left-wing internet donations, and why you should watch out for their fundraising prowess and potential.

1. ActBlue.com. Without bells, whistles or massive e-mail campaigns, the site's decor well underestimates its influence. Since ActBlue's inception about two years ago, the site has raised more than $6 million dollars for Dem candidates. The Web site's interface is so simple and user friendly, major PACs and congressional campaigns (about 60 of them) are using it to process ALL of their donations. Users can create their own pages, from Netroots candidates (2,861 donors giving $221,851 to 12 hand-picked candidates) to Bloggers for Pete Ashdown (five donors giving $157).

From a campaign viewpoint, ActBlue essentially outsources much of the fundraising labor to a willing team. But the larger picture includes the blogosphere: So far, bloggers regularly link to site to put their money where there mouths -- er, keyboards -- are. The evidence is in total dollar amounts: ActBlue's biggest earners are Paul Hacket ($658K for combined Senate and House runs) and Ned Lamont ($233K so far this cycle).

2. Much better known that the former, Moveon.org has only grown its fundraising prowess since its famous Bush in 30 seconds contest. They have raised $14M total for this cycle, but like ActBlue, the MoveOn.org PAC actually doesn't give much directly to candidates. Instead they send out a call to action, process the donors' credit cards and the funds head to the campaign's account. The organization has also run $2M in TV ads for candidates in targeted districts, said MoveOn.org executive director Eli Pariser.

#Both sites represent two models of Democratic action. And since money is the most effective way of showing support for candidates, we think the difference shows a rift among Dems on the whole. ActBlue's organization is a bottom-up model, i.e. there are no endorsed candidates. Arguably this is one of the most honest pictures of how much money -- and gravitas -- a Democrat holds with an internet audience, whether that be the bloggers or wired middle-class families. On the other hand, Moveon.org has a mobilized staff with organized campaigns and initiatives. It has a faithful email list of millions on which it calls to donate to its endorsed candidates. Moveon.org represents more of a top-down model for lefty organizations.

#Check out who's raking it in via these sites. Actblue mobilized for Hackett, Lamont, Francine Busby and Ciro Rodriguez. Moveon.org brought in the most cash for Robert Byrd and LaMont. If you look at the chart comparison below, Moveon.org has donated more to relatively more moderate candidates, such as Byrd and Nelson. But without an endorsement process, internet donations surged for Hackett, with Busy and Rodriguez far behind. Predictably, LaMont remains the blogosphere's cash baby on both sites.

Candidate ActBLUE** Moveon.org

Busby (CA) $104,102 $124,620

Rodriguez (TX) $141,990 $163,643

Lampson (TX) $ 4,369 $164,000

Hackett (OH: S and H) $ 658,597 $ 177,400

Byrd (WV) $8,570 $832,500

Nelson (FL) $77,854 $ 153,000

Casey (PA) $9,399 $168,000

LaMont (CT) $233,244 $243,000*

Farrell (CT) $2,770 $85,000*

Murphy (PA) $21,435 $84,000*

Sanders (VT) $9,566 $14,000*

*At post time, Moveon.org was still counting funds for these candidates.

Posted at 05:00 PM