This line of attack is interesting to unpack: it's ultimately based on a misguided decision by @OpenSecretsDC to lump political giving by employees in with political giving by corporate PACs, which makes about as much sense as comparing what autoworkers give to with what GM wants
Diane Mitsch Bush (a candidate I fundraise for) takes no corporate donations at all, but @OpenSecretsDC does not distinguish between what employees give as individuals and what their employer gives as a PAC, even when (like in the case of Google) the two are polar opposites
The whole thing is made funnier by the fact that Boebert does accept corporate PAC money, like this $5,000 donation from the American Crystal Sugar company, which for its own reasons has decided to support a Qanon-adjacent gun nut with a criminal record for Congress in Colorado
(You could run a PhD seminar on campaign finance in America by following the political donations of the American Crystal Sugar Company)
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A thread on how record fundraising has crippled a bunch of Democratic campaigns, which also ties in to people's question "can candidates do anything useful with donations a week before the election?" TL;DR no one can afford to pay for pre-reserved ad time because of Senate races
If you're running for Congress, you book a bunch of ad time right before the election, based on your anticipated budget. In most cases you can't pay up front for this ad time even if you wanted to.
There's a law that says candidates have to be charged the lowest rate available for ads they run within 60 days of the election. In the past, that has made ad costs fairly predictable in smaller media markets. It also means candidates get a better deal than Super PACs
A thread expressing some concerns I have, too. I think a lot of the articles about the genius of Biden's low-key approach to campaigning are being too clever by half, and the vital lessons of Brexit and 2016 (things can move quickly in the last week) have not been absorbed
In particular, the arrogance of relying on election models in a year when we are entirely outside the parameters of those models gives me a feeling of dread. I am encouraged that Biden plans to leave the house this week and visit places we badly need to win
The country has become so politically segregated that it's hard for most voters to get a good read on how a national election is going. It's not like you have neighbors in the other party you can talk to. The polling is a lot like financial models—it works great until it doesn't
It's a week before the election! A thread on where your money is still useful: First off, two House races in rural Maine and northwest Iowa with a record of overperforming in rural votes, both in states where we need every vote we can get to win the Senate secure.actblue.com/donate/great_s…
Second, state races in North Carolina! Not only are we in a position to win the state house there, but it's a swing state with a crucial Senate contest, and it's full of registered Democrats who don't vote. Help state candidates reach
them this year! secure.actblue.com/donate/state_s…
Third, state races in Florida. This is a must-win state for Trump, and another opportunity to win a state house, which would mean Medicaid expansion and fair redistricting in 2021. State candidates there have been badly outraised by Republicans, help them! secure.actblue.com/donate/state_s…
A nice thing about agricultural areas of Nebraska and Iowa is that the grocery stores have the usual timid "ethnic foods" aisle with ramen noodles and the like, but also a separate and well-stocked "EXTREMELY MEXICAN" section, both in the produce and dry goods departments
Like if you need to find the rare dried pepper that only grows at the bottom of cenotes in the Yucatán, you will find it in the migrant worker section of a Nebraska Hy-Vee
Err, I said migrant worker but these days it is mostly about people coming to work long-term in places like the meatpacking plants
Hey Friday night drinking Twitter! It's just TEN DAYS before the election. Tonight I'm packing up to go to Iowa to follow J.D. Scholten's campaign for the grand finale. But before I go, I want to make one last plea for your boozy support where we can use it most! 🍸🌊💸🍾🇺🇸🗳️
All year long we've been fundraising for our Great Slate of rural candidates in competitive Senate states. With ten days left and all the financials in, there are now two races in particular where we need some last-minute money. Raise your glasses first to...
JARED GOLDEN in Maine's 2nd district. This is a district Trump won by 10 points in 2016, where just two years ago it was touch and go whether a Democrat could even be elected. Today, Golden is an incumbent (the first to flip the seat in 106 years!) and in some polls leads 60-33!
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised $677,432 in the first two weeks of October and spent it almost entirely on fundraising, including $220,000 in Facebook ads that... just seem to ask for more money. I want to understand this ouroboros of fundraising
America's most prominent legislative critic of Facebook runs hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of ads on Facebook asking for money that she then spends on Facebook ads asking for money, and I don't understand any of it. I think 90% of this morass just runs on autopilot
I'm 100% on board with the idea of running within a broken system to reform it; it's the circularity of the endeavor that I can't wrap my head around. These Facebook ads really do just raise money to cover the cost of running themselves