We have all been watching the Obama campaign with dropped jaws over the past months.
This is only been a problem for those of us who support him who are starting to get sore lips and dry mouths.
I found this recent article in the Washington Post to be very intriguing. When I first went to the Obama website, I recall being put off by what felt like a requirement to provide them my email address. I was more than a little concerned that my inbox would be filled every day from then on with requests for money. For some reason, I overlooked this and gave it to them anyway.
What I found instead, were notes with updates from the campaign trail. Sure, I get the asks, but the are not hitting me over the head. In fact, the one time I did give to Obama was in response to a direct appeal from a friend of mine who had set a personal goal on the Obama site to raise $1000.
Anyway, it is great to see the evolution of political fund raising in the era of engagement.
Obama aides say their goal has been to “build an online relationship” with supporters who will not only give money but also knock on doors and help register voters for the candidate. To do so, they have spent heavily on Internet ads — $2.6 million in February alone, more than 10 times as much as Clinton and more than 20 times as much as McCain.Ads for Obama pop up on political Web sites, such as the left-leaning blog Daily Kos, and on more general ones, such as those of newspapers. Anyone visiting the Dallas Morning News in the weeks before the Texas primary, for instance, was likely to see an Obama appeal stretched along one edge of the screen. The campaign has also attached ads to certain search terms, such as “Iowa caucus locations” or “Ohio primary,” on Yahoo, Google and Microsoft search engines.
Obama has targeted unlikely sites, such as the conservative Washington Times, where an ad for the candidate appeared yesterday on the same page as a story about an economic speech he gave that morning. But a click on the ad did not lead to a request for donations; instead, it took users to a page where they could sign up for invitations to campaign events.
This approach — not directly asking for donations — has been part of the campaign’s strategy of slow-walking its way into supporters’ wallets. Newcomers are led to a blog and an online store and are offered a chance to join local Obama groups.
Zack Exley, a campaign consultant who oversaw Internet fundraising for Sen. John F. Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, said Obama’s e-mails to potential donors stand in stark contrast to those sent by the Clinton campaign.One recent e-mail, from former president Bill Clinton, was blunt: “Any donation, even as little as $5, can make a difference in this campaign. If you haven’t given online yet, now is the time.“Exley said that while the Clinton team has been “really aggressive,” the Obama campaign has taken more time to build a rapport with potential donors.
“If you just look at the e-mails and the rhythm — the Obama campaign has not asked for money every time they could have,” Exley said. “They’ve tried to really show people that they’re not just after your money. They’re not treating you like an ATM.”
Obama Rewriting Rules for Raising Campaign Money Online - washingtonpost.com
