Bernie Sanders doesn't follow the money

[Jefferson23]

The Vermont senator has an unorthodox strategy for raising campaign cash: Don't do it.

By Tarini Parti and Jonathan Topaz

6/28/15



Bernie Sanders has an unusual approach to fundraising: Do as little of it as possible.

It’s a point of distinction for the independent senator from Vermont. But it could be a serious limitation to his surging presidential campaign.

Working almost exclusively from his website, Sanders has raised about $8 million so far with an average donation of around $40 — impressive enough, given how little effort he’s made. But Sanders, who has been rising fast in recent early-state polls, is missing an opportunity to capitalize on his momentum with a restive progressive base that’s been without a standard-bearer since liberal icon Elizabeth Warren declined to run.

“I frankly don’t get the restraint. I don’t believe in unilateral disarmament,” said Harvard University professor Lawrence Lessig, who said that some progressives and campaign finance reform advocates think Sanders is ruining his presidential chances by not having a super PAC. (Lessig famously founded a super PAC aimed at ending super PACs.)

Sanders faces the daunting task of finding a way to stay competitive in the Democratic primaries against one of the most potent pair of fundraisers in party history, Bill and Hillary Clinton, who are expected to count their receipts on Hillary’s behalf in the billions. The Clinton campaign says it is hoping to raise $100 million in regular donations by year’s end — and that doesn’t even count the hundreds of millions of dollars likely to flow into her super PAC.

“One million dollars is a small down payment in politics these days,” said former California state Sen. Tom Hayden, who attended a Sanders fundraiser in southern California last weekend. Sanders will have enough money to “run a credible campaign” but would need more financial support to win the nomination, he said.

On the campaign trail, Sanders makes a point of shunning big-money politics. “I don’t want money from the billionaires,” he says. He refuses to have a super PAC. His campaign has held far fewer traditional fundraisers than most candidates. There are no planned retreats or other perks for committed supporters, as has become the norm for most candidates.

In interviews, Sanders’ campaign and his allies said they have no plans to ask his donors, which include Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield — founders Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, who sold their company for $325 million in 2000 — to write big checks or even to raise funds on his behalf, despite the fact that Sanders has a much smaller donor network and lower national profile than other candidates.

Sanders doesn’t have much of a fundraising staff beyond his social media and digital fundraising team, many of whom worked on Barack Obama’s insurgent 2008 presidential campaign.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/bernie-sanders-fundraising-donors-2016-campaign-119502.html#ixzz3eMatNpxr