MI-01: Bye, Bye, Bart! Stupak Challenger Saltonstall's campaign ramping up

by: Brainwrap

Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 17:49:39 PM EST

Yesterday, there was some exciting news in the world of Bart "Mr. Coathanger" Stupak, as local county commissioner and former schoolteacher Connie Saltonstall announced that she's going to challenge Stupak in the Democratic primary based on his anti-choice/anti-HCR stance:

WASHINGTON - Michigan's Bart Stupak, a Democratic congressman who could help bring down health care reform over an abortion provision, is getting a primary challenge this year.

Connie Saltonstall of Charlevoix said today she plans to run against Stupak for the Democratic nomination of Michigan's First Congressional District, citing Stupak's efforts to stop health care reform if it doesn't ban use of government money for abortions. Stupak, a former state trooper from Menominee, has held the seat since 1993.
...

"I believe that he has a right to his personal, religious views, but to deprive his constituents of needed health care reform because of those views is reprehensible," Saltonstall said in a statement.

ActBlue Now Available for State House Candidates

by: philgoblue

Tue Jul 29, 2008 at 00:11:13 AM EDT

Well, I happened over to ActBlue the other day and discovered that they've opened up their system to folks running for state legislatures.  So, State House candidates and campaign managers (and anyone who can contact them), y'all should take advantage of this easy-to-use platform and set up another way to accept donations.

What is ActBlue?

ActBlue makes it really easy for supporters to donate to your campaign.

ActBlue is the nation's largest source of funds for Democrats. Launched in 2004, ActBlue created and deployed the next generation of online fundraising tools, enabling individuals and groups to raise money for the Democratic candidates and committees of their choice at www.actblue.com. In four years, ActBlue has sent more than $58 million to some 3200 candidates and committees from more than 420,000 donors, with a median contribution of only fifty dollars, doing as much to ensure a sustainable Democratic future as any other player in the field.  Learn more at their About page.

What can ActBlue do for your campaign?

ActBlue is an FEC-registered political committee, and our operations are fully vetted by some of the country's best campaign finance lawyers and compliance experts. ActBlue accepts all four major credit cards, and use our combined volume to negotiate low fees from the credit card companies.  And ActBlue does not take a cut of the money donated to your campaign (they rely on tips).  So, ActBlue is superior to PayPal since folks don't need to go through a complex signup process and ActBlue fees are far, far less than the high fees PayPal charges. ActBlue makes it really easy for candidates: they collect all FEC and state-required donor information and give campaigns access to all contributor and compliance data in real-time.  And you can get pretty sophisticated with ActBlue: it's viral so you can spread the word about your campaign, turn your supporters into fundraisers, Add ActBlue links and graphics to your website, etc.  And you get your money fast -- checks are sent out every week.

To learn more about what ActBlue can do for candidates and to sign up your campaign, see their Campaigns Overview page, email at campaigns@actblue.com, or call them 617-517-7600.  Or your questions might be answered on the FAQ page.

As an example, you can see the ActBlue fundraising for a Michigan State House candidate, see the page for Garnet Lewis, who is running in District 98.  Other, more sophisticated examples included the page for Gary Peters US Congress campaign and Mark Warner.

Act now to get ActBlue online fundraising for your campaign!

I'll be going through the process for the Bruce Hawley (State House District 73) campaign, and I'll let you know what I learn.

A Path To Victory

by: Mad At Thad

Fri Apr 25, 2008 at 20:38:20 PM EDT

crossposted at Mad At Thad 

Victory in the Eleventh this year is unlikely. With plenty other more enticing races around the country, the national party organization will likely ignore this race. Even the Michigan Democratic Party will be busy, with MI-7 and MI-9 being much better pick-up opportunities.

McCotter has a big name and a bigger checkbook. Our nominee will be unknown and underfunded. It will take, as I've stated earlier, a truly people powered campaign to take down Thad. We'll need a movement, not a candidate to win this race.

We need to educate the voters on Thad's record. We need to hammer Thad on the War, on S-CHIP, on the environment. Thad does not represent our interests in Washington, and we must make that clear to his constituents. Again, it will take more than Joe Larkin or Ed Kriewall to do this.

So in the spirit of a people-powered movement starting in Plymouth, I'd like to announce the formation of a Mad At Thad ActBlue page. ActBlue is a vital tool for progressives across the nation to build winning campaigns. We here in the Eleventh will be utilizing it as well.

Now, I'm a minor. I'm legally not allowed to contribute. So I'm counting on you. My goal is to have eleven donors over the next month. Just enough to show that the foundation for a grassroots campaign exists here in the Eleventh. Please consider making a contribution, and help us move one step closer to ousting Thad.

ActBlue Turns 3 Years Old Today

by: KTatActBlue

Thu Jun 28, 2007 at 19:38:47 PM EDT

Today ActBlue marks its 3rd Anniversary. Seriously, 3 years? I know- time flies.

Back in 2004, our founders Matt DeBergalis and Benjamin Rahn thought they could build something that would change Democratic fundraising- making it, well, more democratic. The two of them, living off of savings and limited investment, set out to build a platform that would end up changing our Party. Working out of their homes, they built the first generation of ActBlue.

This innovative, secure, and groundbreaking way to give money to Democrats was launched in June of 2004 before the end of the fundraising quarter. The earliest adopters, the blogosphere, helped push $250,000 into federal campaigns that summer. Printing $1 million in checks out of Matt's living room by the end of 2004 was an accomplishment for the start-up. ActBlue caught the eye of Democratic campaigns, organizations, and establishment investors and it was time to grow.

And grow ActBlue did. You can see it for yourself in the numbers.

Total Raised for Democrats through ActBlue: $24,167,741

# of fundraising pages on ActBlue: 4,204

# of people contacted in just 3 weeks via ActBlue's new Spread the Word tool: 3,751

# of active entities in ActBlue's directory: 3,739 (will grow towards 10,000 this cycle)

# of candidates and committees receiving funds to date: 1,725

# of states where ActBlue is active for state level activity: 23 (24 soon)

# of people behind the ActBlue curtain: 6

# of months until ActBlue outgrows its 600 sq foot office: 1
  (that's over $40,000/sq.ft. of productivity!)

There a lot of talk about investing in lasting infrastructure for the Democratic Party. ActBlue returns over $20 in aid for Democratic candidates for every $1 in investment. We have more ideas under the hood than you can shake a stick at, limited not by our creativity, but by time and investment.

ActBlue is an investment in our Party. ActBlue is an investment in a Democratic future.

So, in honor of our 3rd Anniversary, will you invest in ActBlue?

http://www.actblue.com/page/investinactblue

With your help, the future will be more than just bright- it will be Blue.

So I offer a toast: the undiscovered country . . . the future. Here's to turning 3.

Sneak Peek of the New ActBlue Fundraising Pages

by: KTatActBlue

Tue May 01, 2007 at 15:43:34 PM EDT

Fundraising pages are the most important component of ActBlue: the vast majority of visitors to the site arrive directly on a fundraising page because a friend, an organization, or a campaign has channeled them there.  We pride ourselves on these pages' simplicity: donors can show up, immediately understand what's going on, and contribute with no distracting bells and whistles. 

But we harbor a dirty secret (or, not-so-secret if you've been with us a while).

Over the past three years, $22 million raised, and 200,000+ donors, these pages haven't actually changed all that much.  For a bit of nostalgia, check out the DailyKos dozen page as it looked back at the end of 2004 (compare to the same page with today's look).  Yeah, the site framework has changed a little, but the makeup of the fundraising pages is remarkably similar.

Next week, all that is about to change.

Motivated by a strong sense that we could do better (and by a desire to burn down HTML code approaching its second anniversary), a few weeks ago we got to work putting together a new design with the help of the excellent Steve Ofner of Liberal Art.  The result is the new design that that you see at right.  (Click the image for a full-size mockup.)

In putting the new design together we had several aims:

• A sharper, more dynamic look & feel
• A simpler user experience
• A clearer presentation of the dollar and donor numbers
• A more attention-grabbing "contribute" button at the top

The result is an improved page design that looks good with long candidate blurbs, short candidate blurbs, no candidate blurbs, or all of the above.

We'll be rolling out this design next week, and will continue to refine it in the coming months -- so please let us know what you think!

End-of-Quarter Blog Fundraising Asks

by: KTatActBlue

Fri Mar 30, 2007 at 18:13:30 PM EDT

On Monday I posted a tip for spicing up ActBlue fundraising pages by embedding video into 'asks'. This is a very powerful fundraising tactic--especially when the asker and audience have an existing relationship.

Over at Calitics, a great community blog in California, they've taken that suggestion and run with it. I've included a screenshot of their pitch to the right (click on it to view a bigger version in a new window). Besides the video, Calitics? blogger Brian uses several of the principles of fundraising to make a really compelling plea for his candidates.  Some of the successful elements they have included:

1. Create Urgency- The pitch is for end-of-quarter donations.  Brian clearly states that there?s a deadline before which donors need to fundraise.  And he timed his pitch just a couple of days away from the end of quarter.
2. Be Specific- Rather than overloading their page with a dozen candidates, Brian stuck with three candidates that have a common theme.  The majority of ActBlue donors give to an entire page's slate of candidates?remember that when choosing your slate of candidates.
3. Make it Personal- Brian, a Calitics blogger, is asking his own blog readers to donate. They have an existing relationship and a degree of trust built up. Potential donors are more likely to give when asked by someone they know and the pitch is personal.  They?re less likely to donate when spammed by someone they don?t know.
4. Think Longterm- The Calitics? ask offers the option of giveing once or of setting up a recurring contribution. Recurring donations are growing in popularity on ActBlue, with over 1000 users having chosen that option for a variety of candidates.   If a donor can?t contribute a lump sum amount at once, recurring contributions allow them to invest in the page in installments.

Most of these elements are included in their Calitics ActBlue fundraising page as well. To improve the impact, some ideas might be to include the text from the Calitics post next to the video on their ActBlue fundraising page itself or add the recurring contribution buttons below the embedded video. If that happened, their ActBlue fundraising page could be e-mailed around to additional friends or registered users of the Calitics blog extending the end-of-Quarter ask into a new medium.

One other thing that might help the effort is to set a goal, similar to what the bloggers at Raising Kaine have done (screen shot at left again, click to enlarge). They are shooting for $20,000 to all their endorsed candidates by the end of the state quarter on Saturday, giving a real sense of momentum to their efforts. Adding some text about that immediate goal on their fundraising page would be perfect to tie it together with their blog posts.

While it is early in the cycle, bloggers can build upon their early adopters to make effective asks in creative ways that fit their audience. What ideas might you add?

ActBlue Launches a Blog

by: KTatActBlue

Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 17:09:14 PM EDT

With as many friends as ActBlue has in the Democratic blogging community, it's about time we joined the party with a blog of our own. So today we are launching our official ActBlue Blog where we look forward to bringing our donors, candidates, campaigns, fundraisiers, and bloggers interesting resources, analysis, tips, and other information to more effectively raise funds to elect Democrats!

Here's just a sampling of things you can expect to see-

• Case Studies on some of the most creative ways ActBlue has been used
• Analysis on how and why people donate
• State Reports that highlight successful state level campaigns
• Tips & Tricks about ways to use ActBlue you may not have known about
• Page of the Week where we will highlight our favorite fundraising strategies
• Monthly ActBlue Zeitgeist to explore trends, patterns, and other cool stuff
• Major Series where we will explore how we are most relevant to your efforts in fundraising

This week I'll be cross-posting some content from our blog as a way to introduce it to our friends in the online community. Tomorrow we'll be releasing our version of a case study on the Secretary of State Project (which I was a blogger for last year before being hired by ActBlue). Later in the week I'll introduce you to successful state level fundraising efforts by blogging communities and local organizations.

Our posts will strive to be informative and useful while maintaining the Democratic grassroots values which have driven us for the last two and a half years. We encourage you to subscribe to our RSS feed or sign up to receive new posts via e-mail to keep up with our latest posts (both available at http://blog.actblue.com).

Much of the growth for ActBlue and the netroots in the next 2 years will be at the state level. Hopefully I'll be able to work with you to enable more successes in the statehouse while we work to expand our DC majority. If you have thoughts or questions, please leave me a comment!