The Rally for Romney
By RightSideRedux Posted in 2008 — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
The Romney campaign has raised the bar again by lowering the hurdles to become a fundraiser.
In every campaign I've helped on, the politician has relied on professional fundraisers and personal friends to bring in the dough. From day one of the campaign the Romney camp threw the typical playbook out the door and tapped into the energy of everyday supporters to demonstrate their own fundraising prowess.
Now comes "Rally for Romney", a cross-country slate of events in over 45 major cities. The idea is to get people to recruit "captains" of fundraising teams that can raise $1000 each. To date, the barrier to entrance has been at least $3000.
Here's a quick rundown of the innovative programs that Mitt & Co. have established over the course of the campaign:
- Traditional "tiered" fundraising with a twist - Building on the success of the Bush and McCain "levels" from 2000 and 2004, the Romney campaign has , 40K, 50K, 100K, 500K and 1 Million dollar levels for serious fundraisers. The twist is the ability for these "Revolutionaries", "Patriots", "Statesmen" and "Founders" to create their own "associate" fundraisers -- essentially a multi-level marketing approach to fundraising... the only kickback being "street cred" with the campaign (and invites to all the events).
- Big room fundraising - That's my take on the numerous events that Romney has held where people get together on a specific day, call their friends and family trying to reach a monetary goal. These events have netted millions of dollars each time. The Sept "rallies" are built on this same model.
- Students for Mitt - This had a lot of professional fundraisers upset. Launched over the summer, the "S4M" program gave participating students 10% back on everything they raised. No more pesticide or house alarm selling for these folks
- Young Professionals for Mitt - YP4MITT (an unfortunate acronym :) ) allowed young upstarts to show their stuff and network with Romney staff and other politicos by agreeing to raise at least $2500.
The list goes one... but the short of it is this: the Romney campaign knows how to cater to the needs and desires of specific audiences and tap into those passions to raise money... something that will be a serious advantage against the Clinton machine.
Here's a list of cities for the rally:
Albuquerque, NM
Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Bangor, ME
Bay Area, CA
Boise, ID
Boston, MA
Casper, WY
Cheyenne, WY
Chicago, IL
Cincinnati, OH
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Detroit, MI
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Fresno, CA
Houston, TX
Idaho Falls, ID
Indiana - Central
Indiana - Northeast
Indiana - Northwest
Indiana - Southeast
Indiana - Southwest
Jackson Hole, WY
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
Mesa, AZ
Minneapolis, MN
New York, NY
Orange County, CA
Orlando, FL
Peoria, IL
Philadelphia, PA
Portland, ME
Portland, OR
Raleigh-Durham, NC
Sacramento, CA
Salt Lake City, UT
San Diego, CA
Seattle, WA,
Space Coast, FL
St. Louis, MO
Tallahassee, FL
Tucson, AZ
Washington, D.C./Maryland/Virginia
One of the reasons I like Romney at this point is that he has shown the ability to run the kind of campaign that can compete against the Clinton political machine. He has the energy to do hundreds of townhalls, he has great media people, he has racked up endorsements, and he has shown the ability to be a formidable fundraiser.
“.....women and minorities hardest hit”
However, I will admit that Romney's creativeness and ingenuity are impressive- and leads me to hope that he will show the same level of innovation in regards to policy.
But I've made clear to you, in private and in public, that the disclaimer for your affiliation is mandatory. I've filled it in for you from time to time. And yet I still see Romney pieces without it.
That's the end. I am deadly seriously about making sure that anyone who reads this site knows where the poster is coming from, whenever a campaign is involved. I've disabled your account. Use my contact form if you want to persuade me to reactivate.
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We are all heroes, you and Boo and I. Hamsters and rangers everywhere, rejoice!
Romney again proves that he is the tireless and innovative executive that he can be. While eveyone else tries to prop up has been politicians and lawyers, he continues t ouse his business acumen to forge ahead despite tremendous obstacles.