A billion dollars for Dean (or any other Dem candidate)

[scottxyz]

"Suppose you are thirsty and walking down the street. You walk into the nearest store and head to the bottled water section. The usual corporate brands are there, Crystal Geyser, Poland Spring, Arrowhead, etc. But there is also bottles of Howard Dean and George Bush water on the shelf. They are well branded and taste great. (And whoever says water has no taste is just wrong). You can give your money to some corporation or you can give your money to a political cause. What are you going to do? I'd say most people would support a cause they care for.

"So someone buys a Howard Dean water, and the campaign makes 20¢. 5 million supporters buying one bottle a day equals a million dollars a day in campaign funds. $350 million a year. More then the whole presidential election is expected to cost, for all the candidates combined... And that wouldn't even put a dent in the multi-billion dollar US market for bottled water.

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jim/2003/07/01#a208

Moveon.org has about two million registered members. If half of them—one million members—gave just $1000 each, this would add up to a billion dollars.

I predict that today we are witnessing the emergence of the first billion dollar American presidential campaign. It may not come this year, but it will certainly come soon. The outlines are all too clear. Now the question is, what do we do about it?

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jim/2003/07/01#a206

[fabius]

1. If any Democrat raises a billion...

or even 100 million through mass grassroots support, the Republicans will scream for public campaign financing :D

[arcos]

2. Perhaps not a billion...

but perhaps it would be possible to set a goal of $250 million, give or take. Obviously a combination of methods would be the best way to reach that goal, but an organized effort "A Quarter Billion for Dean!" (or whatever), setting monthly and weekly goals would cause a lot of attention, especially if done during the Olympics and the GOP convention... it could be a real distraction for them. Hell, I think that the GOP would be scared with $50 million raised out of a pure grassroots effort (with $20m coming from the Internet! :D)

[OKNancy]

3. Don't think the finance laws would allow that

Not sure...but if Dean agrees to take federal matching funds, he also has to agree to spending limits. It wouldn't matter how much money he had if he couldn't spend it...also there are limits on the amount one organization can give.

The only way this would work is if Moveon formed a PAC and spent the money as they saw fit for ads, etc. completely independent from the campaign.

Of course each person could give $1000.00 to the Democratic party and that would be perfectly legal. :-)