Sasha Issenberg had written an article in the June issue of Boston Magazine that I was unaware of when recently writing about Obama's ability to get people to pony up for attending his campaign events. Most are aware that Obama has tapped into a well of high-dollar donor's that make the millions possible, but this is a good look at what's going on in Obama's fundraising world that's making those large number of donors possible:
IN MARCH, AT A RALLY IN CLEVELAND, Obama exhorted everyone in the crowd "to pony up $5, $10 for this campaign. I don't care how poor you are, you've got $5." Some in the national media took the line for a gaffe. Instead, the candidate may have been unintentionally revealing his finance strategy. Like Amway, it's about getting people to buy in--with the idea that once their dollars are committed, they will be, too. Ross is intimately familiar with the psychology at play. "When you get someone to write a check and then they actually go and hear and see the candidate," she says, "it's very difficult for them to back off from that."
As the April 20 event at Agganis Arena began, Obama bounced along a catwalk flanked by two big video screens and an American flag worthy of a Sun Belt car dealership. "How we doing, Boston?" he asked. "This is how we hold a fundraiser, right?"
Yea, it is. I'll disagree with the Obama campaign over whether their innovative fundraising success forms a legitimate basis from which to brag about having the largest/strongest/awesomest presidential campaign ever in presidential history (which is pretty much what Obama's campaign claims), but it does form the basis for a stellar fundraising movement. Getting into the details of a the Boston fundraising event, it's easy to see how this moves the donor numbers on a national scale:
Solomont counted the preliminary take from the event: A total of 5,700 tickets had been sold, bringing in over $700,000, including more than $100,000 from students alone.
$100K from students? That's unheard of before Obama, and really points to a breakthrough discovery by the Obama fudraising team-- well-to-do students with disposable income. They've created a network whereby one college individual will use their college network to make the sale on campuses across america. For the Boston event, there's 250 tickets sold by Mitch Robinson, a Tufts senior, "distributing them outside the library and in the dining hall", another Obama supporter "sold 118 tickets to her BU peers", and you get the idea.
Goodman noted that he had never been to a political rally. He leaned out and surveyed the crowd, filled with students who had lined up around the block to stake out a spot close to the stage, many of them wearing the main act's T-shirts--a green St. Patrick's Day "O'bama" edition was popular--and carrying signs bearing slogans such as "We Love You, Barack."
"It's amazing. It's like a U2 concert," he said. "Now all we have to do is get them all to vote."
I know there are some Obama fans that will moan and groan about how likening the Obama events to a concert is a criticism (to them I'm sure the more acceptable comparison would be church service), but it's been described as such by many now, and it is similar in how the tickets are marketed for the Obama event.
As for youth voting, I do not think that is really a factor that will be called into question too much, given the '04-'06 exit polling done that shows such an increase. More youth (18-29) than ever will in the general election for 2008, but their doing so in a democratic primary or caucus is probably debatable until it happens.
