Political campaign contributions
21 Mar 2024 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Politically engaged readers in the US who contribute financially: How do you decide which election campaigns to give money to? I’m getting about a dozen requests a day and I’m so sick of them I’m disinclined to support any, but that doesn’t feel wise. I believe in supporting my representatives but it also seems like a good idea to support key races elsewhere but I don’t know how to decide which ones. I’d rather pick a few to focus on than give small amounts to all of them.
no subject
Date: 21 Mar 2024 09:48 pm (UTC)https://swingleft.org/
no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2024 10:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 21 Mar 2024 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 Mar 2024 04:21 pm (UTC)I was frustrated, but not so much because Gideon lost. I supported Hilary Clinton, John Kerry, Al Gore; they lost, but I didn't feel like the time or money I spent on them was wasted. The Sara Gideon campaign collected a LOT of money, far more than they spent on actual campaigning. They turned away offers to canvass, saying they wanted to save that kind of effort for a better strategic time and only use specially trained Mainers. From my perspective, it seemed like their phone and text banking was more "please give us money," "please come canvass for us," and collecting information for better canvassing. Not so much "please remember to vote for Sara, she's great!"
The money surplus was probably just mismanagement? And a couple of years afterwards the campaign ended up donating the extra millions of dollars to good causes. It's not like I have a problem with supporting legal aid in Maine...I might perfectly well have supported similar services locally or at the southwest border. I just feel cheated because they didn't even try to use my mites of help against Collins.
At any rate, I feel like I should look at whether a campaign is being managed competently. As well as whether I like the candidate, and whether they are running against someone who can plausibly be beaten. The distinction may be irrational of me, but politics sometimes is.
no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2024 10:32 pm (UTC)Do you know of ways to determine whethet a campaign is being run competently, without contacting it directly?
no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2024 10:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 21 Mar 2024 11:49 pm (UTC)Every so often I feel up to researching some of the people begging for money, and I pick one or two to give $5 to. I have been told by people in development that the total of people who gave is as important as the amount raised, so no matter how small the donation it helps.
no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2024 10:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 Mar 2024 12:09 am (UTC)State elections, Dems all the way because I am in a gerrymandered state and they need the support.
Federal? I don't even try. I would do Dems there too, but I feel like there's so much money in national levels that my 5 bucks ain't helping anyone.
no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2024 10:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 Mar 2024 12:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2024 10:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 Mar 2024 04:23 pm (UTC)I was frustrated, but not so much because Gideon lost. I supported Hilary Clinton, John Kerry, Al Gore; they lost, but I didn't feel like the time or money I spent on them was wasted. The Sara Gideon campaign collected a LOT of money, far more than they spent on actual campaigning. They turned away offers to canvass, saying they wanted to save that kind of effort for a better strategic time and only use specially trained Mainers. From my perspective, it seemed like their phone and text banking was more "please give us money," "please come canvass for us," and collecting information for better canvassing. Not so much "please remember to vote for Sara, she's great!"
The money surplus was probably just mismanagement? And a couple of years afterwards the campaign ended up donating the extra millions of dollars to good causes. It's not like I have a problem with supporting legal aid in Maine...I might perfectly well have supported similar services locally or at the southwest border. I just feel cheated because they didn't even try to use my mites of help against Collins.
At any rate, I feel like I should look at whether a campaign is being managed competently. As well as whether I like the candidate, and whether they are running against someone who can plausibly be beaten. The distinction may be irrational of me, but politics sometimes is.
no subject
Date: 26 Mar 2024 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 Mar 2024 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2024 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
no subject
Date: 24 Mar 2024 01:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 26 Mar 2024 08:24 pm (UTC)