Rob Miller has been inundated with cash since the man he's challenging, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., called President Obama a liar during a joint session of Congress last week.
Miller's collected about $900,000 in online donations through the contribution conduit ActBlue.com since Sept. 9, an unprecedented hydrogen moneybomb for an ActBlue candidate. But Miller and his new friends should know that money from Democratic donors across the country won't necessarily buy him the love of local voters.
The trend goes far beyond the phenomenon of El Tinklenberg, who swam in more than $800,000 in online contributions in the days immediately after Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., said Obama and some members of Congress harbored anti-American beliefs. Aside from Tinklenberg, who lost, eight of the other top 10 House recipients whose profiles remain on ActBlue ended up losing in 2008.
Adrian Arroyo, the deputy communications director for ActBlue, says matching dollar figures to outcomes is "the wrong way to look at it." In Miller's case, he said, the flood of early money will help him build a campaign organization and keep the attention of national Democrats.
Even its members are not picking winners the first time, ActBlue's method exercises Democratic donation muscles and helps put lesser-known candidates, some of whom aren't attracting help from party committees, on the map.
"What ActBlue does is give individuals the ability to invest in their political future in a way that is very individual," Arroyo said.
Still, it's worth wondering whether some of the money could be better invested in candidates who are more likely to win. The 2008 ActBlue top-dollar House casualty list, according to figures listed on the site:
- Darcy Burner of Washington, $760,588. Lost to Rep. Dave Reichert, 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent
- Bob Lord of Arizona, $592,624. Lost to Rep. John Shadegg, 52.1 percent to 42.1 percent.
- Judy Baker of Missouri, $363,602. Lost to Blaine Luetkemeyer, 50 percent to 47.5 percent, in the race to succeed former Rep. Kenny Hulshof.
- Ashwin Madia of Minnesota, 341,621. Lost to Erik Paulsen, 48.5 percent to 40.8 percent, in the race to succeed veteran Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad.
- Josh Segall of Alabama, $273,767. Lost to Rep. Mike D. Rogers of Alabama, 53.4 percent to 46.5 percent.
- Charlie Brown of California, $270,052. Lost to Rep. Tom McClintock, 50.2 percent to 49.8 percent.
- Jill Morgenthaler of Illinois, $267,111. Lost to Rep. Peter Roskam, 57.6 percent to 42.4 percent.
- Linda Stender of New Jersey, $231,032. Lost to Leonard Lance, 50.2 percent to 42.2 percent.
And the big-dollar winners:
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12 of the top 20 Democratic candidates on ActBlue won their races in 2008.
http://bit.ly/3zQtnw
Posted by: Matt DeBergalis
| September 14, 2009 4:19 PM
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