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They tried, most failed: Democrats find small donors aren'''t enough - Los Angeles Times
I'm not at all surprised. Kamala Harris, Booker, Beto and the rest who initially repudiated big donor money simply don't have the receipts and history that would presage consistency on the matter, and as they flip flopped on policy and failed to inspire, their change oriented small donor base evaporated and eroded, leaving them dependent on the well-heeled who have, for obvious reasons, little interest in such things as Medicare for All and other iconic progressive ideas. Since they declared as much, I figured these early commitments to progressivism and the eschewing large benefactors would not hold, and I'm sorry to have been proven right. Likewise, it seems that their polling and popularity have eroded in tandem.
The LA Times said:After all the promises that fundraising-as-usual was behind them and that charming the wealthy over canapes would take a backseat to chatting with regular human beings, Democratic presidential candidates spent a lot of time this summer in the Hamptons. Martha’s Vineyard, Brentwood, and the well-manicured estates of Silicon Valley, too.
Paying the bills without paying regular visits to the seaside homes and penthouse apartments of rainmakers turns out to be a lot harder than many candidates hoped.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has twice funded robust presidential campaigns almost exclusively with small online contributions. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has largely succeeded, as well. The others, not so much.
“A lot of them had a big burst of online fundraising at the beginning and thought they were going to be able to keep it going,” said Joe Trippi, who managed the 2004 presidential campaign of Howard Dean, an early phenom at grass-roots fundraising. “They hired beyond their ability to sustain it. Several had to pull back.”
I'm not at all surprised. Kamala Harris, Booker, Beto and the rest who initially repudiated big donor money simply don't have the receipts and history that would presage consistency on the matter, and as they flip flopped on policy and failed to inspire, their change oriented small donor base evaporated and eroded, leaving them dependent on the well-heeled who have, for obvious reasons, little interest in such things as Medicare for All and other iconic progressive ideas. Since they declared as much, I figured these early commitments to progressivism and the eschewing large benefactors would not hold, and I'm sorry to have been proven right. Likewise, it seems that their polling and popularity have eroded in tandem.
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