How Bernie built a fundraising juggernaut

[eridani]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/bernie-sanders-fundraising-219112

Sanders' small-donor operation looks spontaneous, but it grew out of careful planning and innovation... About 30 minutes after Bernie Sanders was declared the runaway winner of Tuesday’s New Hampshire Democratic primary ― but roughly an hour before the Vermont senator took the stage for his victory speech ― his campaign emailed supporters seeking to turn their euphoria into cold, hard cash.

The email, signed “in solidarity” by the candidate himself, warned that “our victory tonight will prompt a desperate response from the nation’s financial elite and the political establishment who want to stop our campaign to transform America.” The way to fend off the coming attacks “and take our country back from the billionaire class,” Sanders wrote, over a hyperlink to the campaign’s donation website, was a $3 contribution.

The donations flooded in at a record-setting pace ― $6.3 million in the 23 hours after the polls closed and counting ― at one point coming so furiously they overwhelmed the interface that processes them. The gusher was fueled further by Sanders’ victory speech, in which he boasted of his unprecedented small donor fundraising and implored supporters to go to “please go to Berniesanders.com and contribute,” as well as a follow up email from his campaign manager Jeff Weaver highlighting the fundraising surge. “This is what a political revolution looks like, sisters and brothers,” Weaver declared.

Indeed, Sanders’ campaign has melded its fundraising into its core mission in a way that is without precedent in American political history. It’s more than a means to an end. It is the purpose of his campaign ― the vehicle for regular people to buy into the idea that they can fight back against a moneyed elite that has tilted the scales against them.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. I think they're trying to make more of a 'there' than is 'there'.

Sanders didn't do anything special in terms of 'planning and innovation' for his 'fundraising juggernaut'.

He just told the truth to people, and they responded by saying, 'Hey, this guy needs to be elected, we better make sure he has the resources to do it.' He's certainly not the first candidate to ask for funds on TV during live coverage, or to send out fundraising emails. Hell, I ignore the fundraising emails all the time, and simply contribute when I can.

The real story is just that a LOT of regular people REALLY think he should be our next President.

[Rocky the Leprechaun]

2. Yep, compared to Clinton's need to fly somewhere and fundraise

because she's running out of rich donors to tap to. There's only a finite number of rich Americans she can go to, but all of this fundraising costs money that she really doesn't have. There's travel expenses, staff salaries to pay, advisors to pay, consultants to pay, focus group to pay, polls to pay... but how much does she really net on those fundraising? We can fundraise in a drop of a penny for Bernie, and it took me $15 yesterday to get Bernie a million while Clinton probably got a net of $125k for her campaign after expenses.