'08 Money Race: Some Nickel-and-Diming It
Some 2008 candidates are using low-cost tickets to lure small donors.
July 11, 2007 — -- WASHINGTON — Presidential candidates are using low-cost tickets to fundraisers, online contests and concerts featuring pop stars to lure a group they hope will give them an edge: donors who contribute in small amounts.
Republican Mitt Romney last month staged a $100-per-person fundraiser, targeting young professionals. Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton recently drew a crowd of 8,000 to a $20-a-ticket event. Democrat Barack Obama is treating four of his small donors to a dinner with him Tuesday; each gave $25 or less.
Small donors can be the lifeblood of a campaign, giving it a resource to tap for more money and volunteers during a lengthy presidential race.
However, political experts say it's unclear whether having legions of small contributors will result in success: Just ask Democrat Howard Dean, who raised 61% of his campaign cash from small donors, only to stumble in the early voting states in 2004.
"Money is only important if it translates into votes," said Elizabeth Garrett, a law professor and campaign-finance expert at the University of Southern California. "Lots of small donations suggest that there will be votes behind those donations," she said, but winning also requires the ability to spend money wisely and run solid get-out-the-vote operations in key primary states.
Independent political analyst Stuart Rothenberg agrees that early fundraising success and excitement — even among small donors — is no guarantee of capturing the presidency.
In 2004, "all of the momentum was with Howard Dean. It was money. It was endorsements. It was enthusiasm. Then, he got to Iowa," Rothenberg said, referring to Dean's third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.
When the presidential nominating contests begin in six months, Rothenberg said, "folks in states like Iowa and New Hampshire will use a different prism to evaluate the candidates. … It will be: Who can be the next president of the United States?"
Small donors are defined as those who give $200 or less to a campaign, and candidates aren't required to disclose details about the contributions or their donors on campaign-finance reports.
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