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Sen. Jim DeMint Embraces Slatecard

On Friday, Nathan Gonzales, the Political Editor of the Rothenberg Political Report, wrote a story for Roll Call announcing that United States Senator Jim DeMint was the first Senator to embrace Slatecard to exclusively process his online donations for his campaign. I've pasted the Roll Call story (subscription req.) below for your review.

DeMint Embraces Online Fundraising Tool

July 11, 2008, 1:46 p.m.
By Nathan L. Gonzales
Roll Call Contributing Writer   

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has agreed to use the Republican Web site Slatecard exclusively for his fundraising.

DeMint, one of the most tech-savvy Members of the Senate, is the first Senator to utilize the popular Web site. And it's just an extension of his efforts to reach constituents, voters and donors through the Web.

"Sen. DeMint is excited about new technologies that allow direct and dynamic communication with people in South Carolina and throughout the country," DeMint Communications Director Wesley Denton said.

DeMint, the chairman of the Republican Steering Committee, has a sleek Senate Web site, where he and his staff blog. The site also has six separate regional blogs maintained by staff and accessed by inputting a county or ZIP code. He used YouTube to respond to President Bush's most recent State of the Union address. And he has a Twitter account, but it's just a feed from the blog on his campaign Web site, not a minute-by-minute breakdown of his daily activities.

The former owner of a marketing company, DeMint has engaged the blogging community and embraced the Internet has a strategic and marketing tool.

He committed just a few days ago to Slatecard and has taken in $3,581 from 12 contributors. But his race for a second term isn't until 2010.

The move could give the Web site a boost. DeMint is a star within conservatives in the caucus. He raised $9 million in 2004 and will raise more next cycle. DeMint is also using the site to raise money for his political action committee, Senate Conservatives Fund.

Slatecard, considered the Republican equivalent of ActBlue on the Democratic side, has taken in about $411,000 since its inception nine months ago. The goal of the site's founders is to raise $1 million for the cycle.

ActBlue was founded in 2004 and has taken in $56.8 million since. According to the Wall Street Journal, the site took in nearly $792,000 in its first cycle.

The top Republican fundraiser on Slatecard thus far was Kevin O'Neill, who raised $64,744 from 126 contributors by using Slatecard exclusively for all his fundraising for the special election last fall in Virginia's 1st district. He lost the GOP nominating contest to Rep. Rob Wittman (R).

The site was co-founded by David All, a former communications director to Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), and San Diego software developer Sendhil Panchadsaram. All is also the founder of TechRepublican.com.

Update on Totals - July 11

This past week was a strong step in the direction of reaching our goal of raising $1M online in our first cycle and beating those silly Democrats at their own game.

• $428,491.63 Total
• 6,522 Donations
  
• $65.70 Average Donation

Update on Totals

Following up on our goal to raise $1M this election cycle, I wanted to give you an update on our totals.

• $410,787.88 Total
• 6,434 Total Donations
• $63.84 Average Donation

These past few days have been strong; however, we have miles to go before we sleep.

Please consider donating to any candidate today to help us reach our goal and (finally) beat the Democrats online.

One Hundred Dollars to Beat Democrats Online

A few weeks ago, the Left's ActBlue team announced on their blog that they had raised more than $50M for liberal candidates and committees since their launch four years ago. To be honest, this is quite an impressive fete and is credit to the hard work and dedication of the ActBlue community which their staff has worked hard to support. I'm willing to tip my hat in their direction and acknowledge what they've done.

However, there was one little nugget in their press release that I've been thinking about quite a bit. You see, they decided to take a little swipe at Slatecard.com, the Republican counter to ActBlue.

From their release:

ActBlue's nearest Republican counterpart, Slatecard.com, has raised $350,000 since 2007. (For comparison, ActBlue raised more than $890,000 in its first six months of operation.)

But according to this Wall Street Journal (no subscription needed) grapic, ActBlue raised $791,900 in 2004/the 2004 election cycle:

Let's be the better people and collectively agree that ActBlue raised somewhere between $790-$890K in the 2004 election cycle and let them clarify the inaccuracies.

Making an apples-to-apples comparison -- first election cycle to first election cycle -- could Slatecard outraise ActBlue's 2004 election cycle? Could we raise $1 million dollars by the end of this year?

I believe so and I'm hoping the Slatecard community joins us in beating ActBlue's first cycle by raising more than $1M in our first election cycle (2008).

Reaching this goal will not be easy. We are more than $600K away from breaking $1M.

TOTALS:

• $397,869.48
• 6,280 donors
• $63.36 average donation
  

So look, I'm willing to do everything in my power to help make it happen. I believe we can raise more than $1 million and beat ActBlue.

In fact, if every donor makes a $100 donation right now , we'd break their goal today.

But we're going to have to do it alone. You, me, we, us -- the Slatecard community.

We can't count on "big donors" who give hundreds of thousands of dollars and want a handshake grip picture with a candidate next to a flag. We can't count on any help from anyone.

It's up to us to make it happen.

To reach our goal, simply contribute money to any Republican candidate in our candidate directory, give money to a Cause you believe in, or make a contribution to Slatecard to keep this site up and running. If you're looking to contribute money to a Republican candidate -- do it here. Trust us, your contribution, name, address, etc. will be sent to the campaign so you'll be noted in their books as a supporter.

The time to step up to the plate and beat the Democrats at their own game is now.

We need to win this one for the team.

Feeling the buzz

When I wear a consulting hat, one of the groups I'm honored to work with is the College Republican National Committee. They get the importance of the Internet.

Today I was pleased to speak to a group of CR State Chairman from throughout our great nation where we talked about how the Internet was about to change the way they operate to help build and grow the CR movement.

After my presentation, the first hand that shot up in the air was the CR State Chairman from Maine who had worked closely with Republican candidate Dean Scontras (who you likely recognize as one of the top candidates on Slatecard).

Quick aside: Dean lost in the primary to Charlie Summers. At Slatecard, we stay out of primary races for good reason, but we want to say thank you to Dean and his team for being our second candidate to believe in our system and trusting in us to deliver for him when he needed it most. We are hopeful that Charlie wins the General Election and that Dean will continue to pursue a career in public service.

Back to the story, the question from the young leader was about Slatecard. I hadn't brought it up because that's not what the discussion was about; however, I was happy to field a question. Well, I'll be honest, I'm always extremely happy to talk about Slatecard.

Instead of answering the question directly, I was curious if anyone had heard of Slatecard. I lobbed a question back at the room: "Show of hands, how many people are familiar with Slatecard?" A good 50 percent of the hands shot up in the air. That's solid. And thanks to that question, now 100 percent of the room is familiar with your utility.

The buzz... it's happening... I'm feeling it and seeing it with my own two eyes.

Thank you for being a part of something remarkable Slatecard community. Together, we will revolutionize Republican politics. Promise.

Apple Pies and Pizza Pies

This is kind of funny.

Earlier today I walked into my office from a lunch and noticed a nice big box on my seat. It was marked "perishable" and screamed "open immediately."

I did.

In it I found an apple pie and two frozen pizzas from a bakery/pizzeria in Chicago. When I looked at the note attached I found out that it was from Slatecard co-founder Sendhil Panchadsaram. It said, "Thanks for all the work you guys do on Slatecard."

As per our usual mode of communication, I IM'd Sendhil and asked if he sent us pizza and pies. Why? Because it seemed odd that someone who has slaved just as hard as we have for the Slatecard utility would be thanking us. Here's a peek at the IM conversation (click pic to enlarge):

Thanks for the pies Sendhil. And thank you for all you do for the Revolution.

Drill deep, fast, now

NObama

Last week we asked our community to help us select the issue badge that best represents Barack Obama.

You can see the final results here. 

The Slatecard community has voted and we have listened. Here is the latest issue badge to enter our system:

There's only one appropriate way to welcome Barack to Slatecard.

Will you help us check out this new badge by making a $25 donation to John McCain right now?

He could use the help.

Boots, Beer and Smarter Grassroots Fundraising

I have a lot of Facebook friends. 1,200 or so.

I bet you're in the same boat.

The one thing I'm really sick of receiving are invites to events and gatherings which are meant to raise money for DEMOCRATIC candidates. And, of course, every Democratic baby bundler uses ActBlue. Natch.

For example, here's a reminder to an event I received yesterday helping to bundle $50 contributions for the Democratic Nebraska Senate candidate at a fun bar in DC:

Quick reminder that Boots and Beer with Scott Kleeb is on Wednesday. (no boots actually required) We are all looking forward to an awesome event and can't wait to see you.

If you haven't already, please go to http://www.actblue.com/page/bootsandbeers and make a $50 contribution. You're welcome to write a check or make a credit card contribution there, but this is SO MUCH EASIER!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Alternatively, last night there was a fundraiser for John McCain (actually the RNC Victory Committee and a slew of other committees) on a rooftop -- typical Republican fundraiser.

I tried to get the crew organizing the event to use Slatecard for their fundraising efforts, letting them know about our referral mechanism which would give them credit for raising money and would continue to help both parties. I even said I'd help raise money for the effort from people who could care less about standing on a rooftop. Sadly, no luck.

Perhaps they didn't want to use Slatecard because it would have raised money for McCain in the Primary Election and they need it for the RNC's Victory Fund (which I'm still trying to figure out if Slatecard can raise money for the fund).

Regardless, it's these young professional Republicans who should be utilizing tools like Slatecard to help change the game for John McCain and our party. I can only stand atop this apple crate screaming at the top of my lungs for so long.

[Cross-posted to TechRepublican.] 

Hello Barack, Welcome To Slatecard.com

Will you help us select the issue badge which will best represent Barack Obama by choosing both the badge and slogan in our online poll? 

And while you're here, don't forget to make an immediate contribution of at least $25 to John McCain right now!