After a sweeping victory last week, President-elect Barack Obama wasted no time pleading with supporters to help replenish Democrat campaign coffers.
ObamaFTS File Photo
The first appeal, coming in the form of a mass e-mail titled “How this happened,” was sent to supporters just minutes before Obama made his Nov. 4 victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park.
In the personalized message, Obama writes, “I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.” At the end of the e-mail, just below “All of this happened because of you. Thank you, Barack” was a big red button reading, “PLEASE DONATE.”
On Monday, another personalized e-mail was sent by the Obama campaign soliciting donations. The message offered a “Victory T-shirt” to supporters who gave $30 or more to the Democratic National Committee. The message said the DNC “took on considerable debt” to turn traditionally red states, like Colorado, blue and needed help to recover its resources.
Both John McCain and Obama used the enticement of swag to solicit donations, but Obama’s landslide victory last week gives him the opportunity to continue selling shirts while Republicans are busy recouping.
Obama proved himself a master at grassroots fundraising; he crushed all political fundraising and spending records to date. Obama was so good, he was able to refuse an $84 million public grant to his campaign. In June, he made history as the first presidential candidate to reject public financing since Watergate-era campaign finance reforms were implemented.
By opting out of public financing, Obama will most likely avoid a potentially embarrassing audit of his campaign finances by the Federal Election Commission.
By avoiding the FEC audit, Obama’s fundraising methods will likely never be known to the public. However, a week before the election, it was revealed that his campaign accepted donations from anonymous pre-paid credit cards. Soon after, it was revealed that U.S. Senator-elect Mark Udall also accepted donations from pre-paid credit cards.
Udall’s opponent, Republican Bob Schaffer, who did not accept any donations from such credit cards that mask the givers identity, cried foul. His campaign manager Dick Wadhams said the practice opens the door to fraud and should be scrutinized.