ActBlue and nationalizing downballot races
There's a front page story (below the fold, but still the front page) in today's Boston Globe about ActBlue.com. ActBlue has revolutionized democratic political giving and helped the Secretary of State Project raise over $500,000 for 7 candidates and our strategic fund in the 2006 election cycle.
While the article focuses mostly on fundraising for federal candidates, quotes from founders Matt Debergalis and Ben Rahn try to shift the attention to where their greatest chance for impact lies: nationalizing downballot races.
But Rahn and DeBergalis believe ActBlue's great potential lies in its ability to "nationalize" local races in the 23 states in which the PAC operates. They note that Congressional districts will be redrawn again in 2010. With state legislatures drawing those lines, they say, strategic donations to Democratic state legislative candidates could have a major impact on the fate of the national party."At that level, the relative impact is massive," DeBergalis said. "An entire class of novel ways to tackle political and social problems is sitting there waiting for that catalyst that we can bring."
While the quote is about legislative candidates and redistricting in 2010, ActBlue's first case study in nationalizing a downballot election came courtesy of the Secretary of State Project. Read about the SoS Project below from one of ActBlue's first blog postings and the only fundraising case study currently featured on their site (note, we raised over $85,000 in checks making our total fundraising over $500,000.):
One of the initiatives we're most proud to have been part of in 2006 was the Secretary of State Project, which used ActBlue to raise $415,000 for seven Democratic candidates for Secretary of State in 2008 presidential battlegrounds.
The result: Democratic victories in Ohio, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, and Iowa, and with them hope for fair 2008 presidential elections in these states. (One of the project's common refrains was "No more Ken Blackwells!")
The Secretary of State Project is a great example of how you can use ActBlue to bring national attention to local candidates. Normally, raising money for a down-ballot candidate in another state is a hard sell. But by simultaneously fundraising for candidates across the country around a related theme, you create a national cause whose importance will be readily apparent to your prospective donors.
One of the innovations of the Secretary of State Project's use of ActBlue was how we were able to help people contribute money to Secretary of State candidates who were not in ActBlue enabled states. If anyone out there is interested in running a downballot campaign by using ActBlue to promote a national slate of local candidates feel free to hit us up to share our experience at secstateproject - at - gmail - dot - com.
And congratulations to ActBlue on much deserved recognition for the role it plays in funding our movement.
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