Kamala Harris’s campaign raised more than four times as much as Donald Trump’s effort in August, capitalizing on the surge of Democratic enthusiasm during the first full month of her presidential campaign. But the super PACs aligned with Trump are continuing to raise large sums from high-dollar donors as the two candidates enter the final sprint before November.
Harris’s campaign raised $190 million in August, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday night, and she spent almost $174 million in August — ending the month with $235 million in cash on hand. The campaign spent more than $135 million on media buys and ad production; more than $6 million on air travel; about $4.9 million on payroll and related taxes; and $4.5 million on text messaging.
The Trump campaign’s report showed that he raised $43 million in August and spent $61 million, with $135million in cash to spend at the beginning of September. His campaign spent more than $47 million on advertisements, alongside $10.2 million on direct mail to potential voters and around $670,000 on air travel.
Let’s drill into Trump’s super PAC “strategy” for a minute:
America Pac, one of the largest and the most ambitious of the groups supporting Donald Trump’s campaign, is replacing its voter turnout operations in the crucial battleground states of Arizona and Nevada, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The political action committee, backed by billionaire Elon Musk, has ended its contract with the September Group and will hire a new company to knock on doors with fewer than 50 days left until the election.
I don’t disagree with the Harris campaign that the bulk of money spent to support Trump this cycle will come from super PACs, but hitching your campaign’s wagon to, for example, the vanity project of a ketamine-addled racist, leads to a predictably mediocre result: paid canvassers doing a shitty job, a deluge of poorly targeted mailers, and ads that may or may not carry the message that the campaign wants to send. That said, even Elon isn’t dumb enough to give directly to the Trump campaign, because the skim on that transaction probably approaches 100%.
Moving on, the $670K on air travel is a reflection of the anemic campaign Trump is running — Harris is spending almost 10X that amount. I just checked his events page and he has two public events scheduled next week in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. JD has five, and Tulsi Gabbard and Olivia Nuzzi’s sexting partner are co-hosting an event in Vegas. I can’t find a good events calendar for the Harris/Walz campaign, but it’s certainly more events, and more diverse events (like the recent Oprah appearance.)
One of the many unstudied mysteries of political campaigning is how much money is enough. It’s certainly true that early money is better money than money dumped into a campaign at the last second. I think we’ll all agree that money spent to support face-to-face efforts using volunteers is better than a firehose of ads. Whenever I see an ad from a PAC promising to support a Democrat, I sure hope that anyone donating to that PAC has already maxed out their direct donations to the campaign. And I certainly think that the fundraising we do here is gold standard. The rest is for Baby Jesus and your corner bookie to fight about.
Part of the reason Trump’s spending is so low is because they think they’re going to steal this election, so give early and give often to Democrats up and down the ballot, but only if you can afford it.
Operation Blue Arizona – 3x and 6x Matching All Weekend!
JoyceH
I keep seeing news reports that the Republicans have outsourced GOTV to the PACs, but…? It was always my understanding that it’s illegal for campaigns to coordinate with PACs and that PACs aren’t even supposed to mention candidate names. Has that changed or are there some new varieties of PACs that can do this stuff?
WaterGirl
I pretty much agree with your thinking, mistermix, and I certainly think the Republican plan is to cheat and steal to win the election, but I’ll offer a counterpoint to one part of your last sentence, and applaud another part of it..
I think the best bang for the buck is to give to the organizations that are getting folks out to vote, rather than giving directly to candidates. Until the point that organizations can’t do much with what they get because they don’t have a way to spend last-minute funds. And we’re not there yet with our organizations, because this is when everything they have been planning has kicked into full gear.
The “only if you can afford it” part cannot be said often enough.
WaterGirl
@JoyceH: I’ll be interested in seeing the answers to that one.
At this point, I assume that rules are for the little people, for other people, and not for Republicans. Plus, even if they get dinged for it, if Trump wins off the backs of what they have done, Trump has still won. Bonus points because Trump will just pardon them.
AM in NC
Just did a virtual training today to serve as a Democratic poll watcher. I sure hope Republicans don’t try any shenanigans at the polling place where I’ll be, but if they do, there will at least be someone there to call them on it and get the poll workers to enforce the laws properly. It’s going to take a lot of people to fight back against GOP efforts to steal/corrupt our elections.
FSM bless the dedicated poll workers and election officials who make our elections possible.
Kay
lol. Good post, mm. Thanks.
I have new neighbors – retired, well off, from Alpharetta, GA. They bought and knocked down a fancy house a year ago and built a fancier one to retire to. Their daughter and grandchildren live here, so they relocated. They put a Harris/Walz sign up today and I spoke with the husband and he said he felt comfortable putting his sign up because I have one up. I didn’t have the heart to tell him “well, we’ll be one of about 9 people” so I just said “terrific!” and went on. One hopes they researched where they were actually moving.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Emily’s list was named for the premise that early money is most useful: Early Money Is Like Yeast–It raises the dough.
BR
I’ve been thinking about it like this: “how much of my liquid assets is living in a democracy worth to me?” Quite a bit. As a student in ’07/’08 I donated thousands to Obama — basically drawing down my meager savings. I can afford more now and this is the first cycle I’m really donating on a scale like I did in ’07/’08. I hope it helps.
WaterGirl
@BR: You and me, both. For Obama I was putting money I didn’t have on the credit card, and I even sold my beautiful silk rug to get more money to donate to the campaign.
“No regrets!” That was my motto then, and that’s my motto now.
Scout211
Politico had a story up yesterday with the headline,
Sounds like a big donation, but then you read the article:
So not a donation to Trump and also, too, $300k? Seems kind of a puny amount for “the world’s richest man.”
ETA: typos
RevRick
Just got back from a Tim Walz rally held in a high school gym in Bethlehem PA with guest appearances by Lisa Colon-Ramos (who an Emmy for her role in The Bear) and Anthony Ramos (in Hamilton). Our local Representative, Susan Wild, reminded us that we live in the swingiest district in the swingiest state. The place was packed. I happened to sit next to a Facebook friend and her husband and he took a picture of us with Rep. Wild, which I posted to Facebook.
@mistermix.bsky.social
@WaterGirl: My main point is don’t give to the pacs that advertise on social media that are trying to glom on to a candidate. If you want to give to a candidate, go to their website and give through the link to be sure that your money is going directly to them rather than through a PAC that will skim it off. And, yes, if the candidate you’re thinking about donating to is sitting on a multi-million $ warchest, consider our GOTV efforts instead, because candidates often spend just for their own benefit. That said, if you’ve identified an underfunded campaign for someone you (reasonably) think might win, ain’t no sin to send a few bucks that way, especially if you have pertinent local knowledge.
Scout211
@RevRick: Nice!
@mistermix.bsky.social
@Kay:
Jesus, a tear-down in semi-rural Ohio? I really don’t get some people’s housing strategies.
BR
@WaterGirl:
I still have a box from 2008 of newspapers from when Obama won. And a Progress poster that the campaign made. I’m looking forward to making a box like that for when Harris wins.
BR
@RevRick:
Awesome to hear an on the ground report. The video feed had a lot of background noise — seemed like folks shouting, plus at one point someone fainted from the heat (?).
TBone
@BR: it’s not that hot in PA today.
mali muso
@BR: I volunteered every day at our local Obama campaign HQ (Virginia was a swing state in that election) and I still have a little box of momentos including the door hangers we put out overnight to greet voters on election day morning. Those were heady days…
TBone
Red hat rubes and their money are easily parted. A new “coin” has been “minted!”
https://x.com/patriottakes/status/1837496964230910120
I wonder if Rudy is on the “tails” side.
Scout211
@TBone: Uh, isn’t that the same tweet about the same coin at the top of the front page post? Or is that a new coin?
ETA: oh, I see now that mistermix posted a screen shot and you posted the link to the tweet and video. Nevermind. 😊
prostratedragon
A UCC church representing
BR
This is the right attitude, and we need to be relentless is passing it along to nervous nellies:
https://bsky.app/profile/gothamgirlblue.com/post/3l4osmttcjq2h
David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch
Dump’s spending is low because his donations are even lower:
typical republican deficit spending
Anonymous at Work
That $670000 in airfare…how much AFTER removing TFG’s own plane? 100k? 200k?
Kay
@@mistermix.bsky.social:
Theyre nice though! The husband is a real southerner too – he sounds like Jimmy Carter.
The house might have been really run down. The woman who lived there is the tail end of a big fancy family and we rarely saw her in the 20 years before she went to a nursing home. I doubt she was doing much maintenance.
West of the Rockies
Harris & Co. have more cash on hand, a strong donor dynamic, a much better GOTV ground game and infrastructure; new registrations look likely Democratic. And enthusiasm seems to be on our side.
Trump has the same old dreary whining, resentment, and orange pancake makeup and 8-foot long red tie. Bleach.
I like our chances.
TBone
I rarely prognosticate, but this is what I expected in earlier thread:
https://x.com/HecateDemetersd/status/1837571179550593114
It was not a difficult prediction! CNN & VP Harris set Oct. 23 date.
*emits loud chicken squawking noises
WaterGirl
@BR: I still have my Obama collection, too. The round Obama signs from the rallies I worked in Iowa. I have my HOPE pin. I have a newspaper article from one of the states I worked in, etc. Every so often I go through it and always think, nope, I’m not ready to throw any of it out.
TBone
@WaterGirl: I have Obama and Biden salt and pepper shakers 😂
Urza
Elon just donated a whole 6 figures to Republican senators as a group. Thats like a sandwich to us. They should be insulted. Its probably less than he pays a month in child support.
wjca
@David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch:
Only if you assume the the $61 million was actually paid. As opposed to stuff ordered and used, but the supplier stiffed. Which is Trump’s, and the Trump campaign’s, recurring MO.
West of the Rockies
@TBone:
Excellent. Even a tie in a second debate would have been an improvement. Instead, he throws away whatever slim chance he had to win (had Harris had an off night).
RevRick
@BR:
@WaterGirl: According to my ActBlue account, I have made 320 contributions since the beginning of the year in amounts ranging from $50 to $1,000, part of 1,944 alltime donations. I figure making the world a better place for my children and granddaughter is more valuable than the extra $ in the inheritance.
Scout211
The Daily Beast has some new
gossipy dishdeets on the Nuzzi-RFKjraffairsextingrelationship.. . .
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: I have a Mondale-Ferraro sign somewhere in a box.
Baud
@Scout211: I blame the Left.
RevRick
@BR: Yes, it seemed to be a heat related problem
@TBone: A packed gym with little or no A/C and klieg lights means it got quite warm. I was perspiring.
RevRick
@prostratedragon: We’re up to our usual shenanigans, I see.
lowtechcyclist
@wjca:
Is Trump still finding new suckers – at the vendor level, that is, not the cult members – to fleece? I figured that by now, everyone in the business would know of Trump’s record of stiffing contractors, and nobody would be doing jack shit for him anymore without payment up front.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: You beat me. My car I just traded in went back to Kerry-Edwards, and I thought that was bad!
We just opened our official Harris-Walz lawn sign. It’s beautiful, but one of the metal crosspieces isn’t attached to the side. Union labor!
David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch
@Scout211: She’s 31 and he’s 70.
That’s some odd behavior.
zhena gogolia
@RevRick: Were the protestors bothersome? I just watched a few seconds because I can’t stand that.
danielx
@Scout211:
And here I’d always thought Olivia Nuzzi was reasonably sharp.
– Sending nudes over the innertubes?
– Having a personal relationship (yeah, that kind) with a 70 year old guy? I know the heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of, but a guy 39 years her senior?
– Having a personal relationship with a reportorial subject?
– Having a personal relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Junior, who is a nutter of the first order? I mean, really…
Oh well, as someone pointed out, there is no doubt a gig waiting as a Fox News commentator.
eclare
Postcards to Swing States (NC):
75 done, stamped
125 to go
Mail date is Oct 15
LFG.
BellaPea
@Scout211: RFK Jr. is one of the creepiest people I’ve ever seen. His voice is weird, his eyes look crazed and with all of the repulsive animal issues he has, he is one weird dude. I can’t imagine being sexually attracted to him, it’s just gross.
Yarrow
John Cole should start a Balloon-Juice PAC and skim money off for travel. And mustard. And doctors’ bills after pet attacks.
Baud
This is shocking news
danielx
@lowtechcyclist:
It’s for damn sure that event venues require payment up front now. His record of stiffing locations for his rallies going back to 2016 caught up with him.
wjca
We’d both like to think so. But there are, even now, small businesses where people mostly don’t pay attention to politics. Until they take a job and get stiffed personally.
Mousebumples
I have a signed Obama (primary) debate leaflet, somewhere. (2008)
Speaking of fundraising, I’m hoping my bank account will be in better shape for donations next month. (AC replacement cut into my surplus funds for the short term.)
Thinking of maybe WI-03 (vs Van Orden) and/or WI-08 (Gallagher’s vacated district, and my me district with a female ob/gyn running for the Dems!) are probably where I’m leaning, but we’ll see what Q3 fundraising looks like…
Yarrow
@Omnes Omnibus: I have a box with various political things. My favorite are the Teddy Roosevelt Bull Moose party pins.
Mousebumples
@eclare: I have another 100 to write… And 300 to address and stamp. But I have until October 20-something to mail.
Thanks for postcarding!
eclare
@Scout211:
Also seems like an awfully specific amount…why not 300k?
Ken
I’m confused — hasn’t she* been saying there was nothing wrong about the relationship? Why deny?
* She, and several dozen other members of the press. It reminds me of the “me too” reaction from the press, where it turned out some of the loudest defenders were also offenders.
David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch
@danielx:
the nutjob thinks the Jews created Covid: “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”
Straight out of the Dark Ages:
eclare
@RevRick:
Can you send it to a front pager? I’m not on FB.
Ken
@eclare: Watch — the donation will turn out to be coupons for purchase of three Cybertrucks.
trollhattan
@Yarrow: He should have a vet on payroll.
danielx
@Yarrow:
Last time I recall SERIOUS injuries was before Tunch had to wear a kitty straitjacket.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Did everyone else already see this? Harris has accepted CNN’s invitation for Oct. 23 debate and Trump says that’s too late. It is pretty close to Nov. 5.
Omnes Omnibus
@danielx: There was a nasty bite yesterday.
Tony Jay
It’s not a widely known fact, but people close to her know that a young Olivia Nuzzi’s first crush was on a vintage leather and corduroy travel bag that her mother would hang in a kitchen cupboard to store old coconuts and her collection of snake venoms.
So in retrospect, it no great surprise that Really Frigging Kooky caught her eye.
Peke Daddy
@Scout211: Painfully tasteful, I am sure. And careful to show both sides. Disclaimer: no shame about sexual expression here, just her awful sense of journalistic ethics and plain common sense.
eclare
@Mousebumples:
Thanks for being a cheerleader for postcards! Writing the postcards makes me feel involved but not in an obtrusive way to the recipient. And buying the stamps was my donation rather than $, although I have given that too.
Urza
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Means he thinks most votes come from early voting. And he knows he’ll just look terrible again.
trollhattan
@Tony Jay:
Heh. Making her predecessor Peggy It’s Vodka O’clock Noonan, with her Ronny’s lovely shoe fetish.
cain
@Kay: the more the merrier regardless!
Liminal Owl
Only slightly off-topic: Jim Jordan’s website has been hacked, and it us a thing of beauty; hopefully it won’t be taken down before it gains a wide audience.
artem1s
how much money do you need to reserve for law suits to keep the GOP from ratfucking state laws so they can suppress the vote in just the right districts.
SpaceUnit
Pretty sure the trump campaign’s strategy at this point involves intervention by the Supreme Court.
Lots of intervention.
Baud
@SpaceUnit: So the real question is, how much does a top-of-the-line RV cost?
Redshift
I did two canvassing shifts earlier today! Fewer people home/answering doors than usual, but that may be because they were in immigrant-heavy townhouse developments, where people may be more likely to be working weekends.
But I met a voter who will be voting for the first time in this election! New citizen, I believe, though I didn’t ask too many questions (not an 18 year old.) He was happy to be doing it and happy to be contacted. That’s the kind of story I like to bring back from door-knocking; really warmed my heart.
cain
@TBone:
She should definitely celebrate that and even put out a jingle.
Get John Cleese or some other person to do a Brave Brave Sir Robin bit and put it on the radio right wing airwaves.
Drive the maga people nuts.
We should be flooding those am radio stations with ads to provoke these idiots so that they lose their shit and start yelling at the trump campaign.
eclare
@Liminal Owl:
Wow!
WaterGirl
@RevRick: Holy cow! You set quite the example.
I totally agree with you on your priorities!
trollhattan
@Liminal Owl: Good job, somebody!
eclare
@Redshift:
Yay! That is a great story.
Shalimar
I am confused about the Olivia Nuzzi thing now. Is sending naked pictures to people her kink? Did she recognize that RFK, Jr. is a collector and wanted to help him out in exchange for more access? Or is this incredibly creepy guy attractive in some way (which I assume is money and family name, because ewwww)?
Redshift
@Liminal Owl:
Looks like it’s just a parody website with a plausible url, not a hack, so it shouldn’t get taken down. His real campaign website is jimjordanforcongress.com.
SpaceUnit
@Baud:
Clarence should hold out for a yacht.
Shalimar
@Liminal Owl: That is a parody website with a great domain name he stupidly didn’t buy, not a hack. His actual campaign website is Jim Jordan for Congress, no year in it.
or also what Redshift just said
TBone
@RevRick: ooh, no air flow? Yikes!
Redshift
@JoyceH: If I recall correctly, it’s nonprofits that aren’t allowed to mention candidates, only issues. I think PACs have always been allowed to do that.
They’re not allowed to coordinate with the official campaign, and that’s the part that Republicans have basically started ignoring and daring anyone to do anything about it. But I get the sense that they’re still not just integrated with the campaign. Actually having valuable campaign data flowing back and forth could get them sued for illegal contributions, so they illegally get direction from the campaign, but then they mostly operate independently. Or so I’ve heard.
Rachel Bakes
My hand hurts but my postcards are done!!!! Stamps needed (but in hand) and then I wait til the end of October before dropping them in the mail to IL!
TBone
@West of the Rockies:
@cain:
😊
I suspect we’ll be hearing a lot about this act of cowardice in the leadup to Oct. 23. If VP Harris does take the stage alone, expect a real barnburner!
Tony Jay
@trollhattan:
Ah, High (as a kite) Noonan. Never happier than when curled up in a basket under the Oval Office desk wrapped around a half-full bottle of Smirnoff with her beau’s elegant lace-ups tapping away at half-closed eye level.
Something Nuzzi will never, ever, get to experience.
TBone
@Redshift:
…
I don’t know why there is no enforcement…
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2023/08/super-pacs-raise-millions-concerns-illegal-campaign-coordination-raise-questions/
Omnes Omnibus
@TBone: What is the statutory composition of the FEC? Do you think that might factor in?
Redshift
Related to the campaign-by-PAC effort, I heard a story (I think on BBC, but maybe NPR) about grumbles among Republicans that the Felon’s campaign in PA has the staff levels of a midterm campaign, not a presidential campaign. They’d been told that they have 50 organizers in the whole state, and noted that when they asked the Trump campaign about it, they furiously denied it but didn’t give any other number. As the journalist characterized it, “when you have something to brag about, you brag, so the only conclusion is it’s not anything to brag about.” The Harris campaign has 300-odd.
That may not include the PAC-driven effort, but in my experience on the few occasions I’ve run into them while campaigning, paid canvassers are crap compared to volunteers. This story had an insight I hadn’t thought of, and about how switching to a new contractor makes it even worse — you’re hiring people for a job that’s going to last a few weeks, and doesn’t lead to anything else. The kind of people you get are only there for a paycheck, and are going to do the minimum necessary to get that.
TBone
@Omnes Omnibus: the article explains the difficulties presented to actually enforcing said law, but I get too mad to finish reading it. I marched at Occupy Philly and gave an interviewer my top reason for marching: the necessity of overturning Citizens United (I don’t think he used my commentary since I didn’t mention banks/mortgage servicers and the 99%, my second but equally important reason for marching).
I didn’t address your question, I know – I get too frustrated because of John Roberts, et al.
Redshift
@Omnes Omnibus: As I recall, the statutory composition of the FEC is that it’s split between the two parties (though there can be vacancies), and requires a majority to take any action. According to the linked article in that OpenSecrets report, the Republicans on it have fully embraced money=speech and block enforcement against anyone, not just Republicans.
Jeffro
@TBone: that’s awesome!
I looked on eBay and was tempted to pick up a pair, but I think I’m good.
well…I might think about picking up a set… =)
Omnes Omnibus
@TBone: My questions were rhetorical. I was pretty sure you neither knew nor cared and just wanted to complain.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Redshift:
There’s a regular diarist at Teh Orange who writes extensively about door-to-door campaigning efforts, tons of experience.
And she has repeatedly said that paid canvassers are crap and that they are dumbfounded when talking to Dem *volunteer* canvassers (and the like) that they are not being paid.
Omnes Omnibus
@Redshift: That is correct. And that’s why expecting any enforcement action from the FEC is futile right now.
TBone
@Redshift: thanks!
I still want to hammer my bell about Chief Ass Kisser Roberts and the Supremacists Court but I figured you all could use a break from my clanging.
TBone
@Omnes Omnibus: 👍 I feel ya!
prostratedragon
@TBone:
Time for a Rufus Thomas revival: “Funky Chicken”
TBone
@Jeffro: they’re cute and funny – I didn’t know you could still find them for purchase! 😊
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I don’t know how he’s spending his money in general, but he’s wasting some of it on a billboard on one of the main approaches to downtown Philly that I see once a week. Glad to see him flushing it.
The one a couple of weeks ago, I don’t even remember the message except “Endorsed by Elon Must”. Last week’s was the mysterious “He will protect Pennsylvania’s children”. The Musk line was gone.
TBone
@prostratedragon: thank you, I love that and I’ma strut to it!
TBone
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I’m a tad bit surprised no one has “altered” that yet. I mean, yo Philly!?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@BR: We were in Europe in the summer of 2008 and I picked up a German magazine that had a big cover article about Obama. The full page picture of him at the start of the article said, as best I recall, “America’s next President (probably).”
I still have that magazine.
prostratedragon
@RevRick: 🤓
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@TBone:
It’s one of those electronic billboards that flashes mutiple messages. You’d have to hack into however it’s controlled.
TBone
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: oh, that explains it! Thanks
It’s on 95, right?
Sister Golden Bear
Pillow guy strikes again… Online Nazis Thrill To MyPillow’s $14.88 Sale Price
Admittedly Mike Lindell is probably too dumb to understand the reference, but somebody working for him definitely does.
cain
@Omnes Omnibus:
I can’t hear Walter Mondale without the nutty assumed voice they say his name in the show Not Necessarily The News.
For youngins check this out
https://youtu.be/Zk4aBxUaL_M?feature=shared
Sister Golden Bear
Meanwhile, the cultists are livid that fascist-
curiousApartheid Clyde discovers FAFO and caves to the demands of the Brazilian government.BTW, a reminder that the “DogeDesigner” Elon is replying to in one of the tweets shown in the article is one of his sock puppet accounts.
Also too, BlueSky saw a huge influx of Brazilians after Twitter was blocked in their country. It’ll be interesting to see how many stay there.
Salty Sam
@David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch:
I’m 70. My step-daughter is 31. “Odd” is not how I’d characterize it. Creepy? Dare I say “weird”?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@TBone: University City exit off I-95. Coming up 34th street (which is all under construction at the moment). The billboard is right at the end of 34th street before it curves off and becomes University Ave.
prostratedragon
@Baud: Aw, she’s going to be so crushed!
Geoduck
@cain: Sadly, it’s my understanding that Cleese has turned into a major right-wing crank. Probably wouldn’t be interested in doing it.
Redshift
The thing I wonder about is the reports from back when the RNC takeover happened, about how they fired everyone who knew anything about organizing and GOTV, and said they were going to focus on “election monitoring” instead. (And I know they’ve held training sessions for “poll monitors.”
Now on one hand, I know that really means voter intimidation, challenging anyone who “looks like they don’t belong” (i.e., isn’t white), and we need to take that seriously. But I can’t help wondering how much they actually believe their own bullshit, and are sure they’ll win (or get close enough to steal) if they can just stop all the illegal voting.
I don’t know, and I’m not counting on it. But if they really have trashed effective campaigning in favor of that, we could have results that the polls don’t predict just because they’re not doing the work to GOTV.
Chris Johnson
@Shalimar: 100% doing a Natasha Fatale thing. Working for Putin, hoping to get in really well with the Kremlin by seducing and kompromat-ing suitable political actors. A guy like RFK Jr is already out of control, very likely to fall for it, and then he can either be steered by his dick or simply threatened with exposure.
It ain’t because she loves the mellifluous tones of his voice. She’s been doing Kremlin-type stuff since before 2016. She’s as dirty as the Tenet folks. Her seduction of RFK Jr is more of an attack than an affair.
TBone
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I know exactly the one you mean!
TBone
@Geoduck: egads, another one on the reject pile? Gah!
Kay
@Scout211:
Ha! I knew it. I said here that he bragged about it and that’s how people found out.
Nuzzi has had a ton of filler done for a 31 year old, to the point where she looks older than 31 (which is what happens with overuse). It makes me wonder if she has issues with her appearance/mental health. It’s an odd thing to do at 31 – SO young for that.
TBone
@Chris Johnson: 🎯
sab
@WaterGirl: My refrigerator is covered on three sides with political car magnets now retired.
delphinium
Saw my first Cybertruck today-shiny, but boy is it fugly and totally out of place in my ruralish area. Made me think of the Simpson’s episode where Homer designed a car.
karen marie
@AM in NC: Just curiouus why you sign up to be a poll watcher versus a poll worker. I’ve been a poll worker in Massachusetts twice, and it is a very long day!
eclare
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
That is a treasure! I remember Obama had a huge crowd when he spoke in Berlin.
Fake Irishman
@@mistermix.bsky.social:
good advice.
I do appreciate BJ’s strategy developed over the years of finding long term independent groups that focus on building power in marginal communities who are loyal Dems (and who we shouls be accounting for in public policy)
Having said that, if you don’t have candidates in mind, give to your local, regional or national party committees. state parties build the bench and register voters as Dems. Ben Wikler in WI is worth your time. The new party chair in NC is building something worth. In TX, the state party needs a kick in the pants, but there are plenty of big counties in the fight and kicking ass (like Harris County, where I am a sustaining member and I feel my money has been well spent the last five years or so.))
eclare
@Sister Golden Bear:
Wow.
nasruddin
It’s puzzling to me that Harris-Walz events are so hard to find. How do people know about them to attend? Are they delivering ads only to locals? I don’t expect to see any here in her home state but if I knew I could tell others.
My selfish reason is that it helps me understand the campaigns better.
karen marie
@Baud: I was surprised to learn that Zelenskyy has spoken to Trump recently on the phone. I do not understand how that is not a violation of something.
Starfish
@nasruddin: If you have a local Democratic Party, they will know first and probably share event information with their members.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@delphinium:
Your first Wankpanzer! Congratulations! Well, not really but everybody needs to see one in the wild at some point just to reach the same conclusions everybody else does…
Outside of Wankpanzer owners.
nasruddin
@Geoduck: John Cleese right wing crank? I don’t think so.
cain
@Geoduck:
What ?! Oh hell no. He is kicking Trump’s ass. He is not remotely a right wing crank. He has been hitting Elon and Trump and reposting stuff with hashtag Harris and Walz.
Check his Twitter feed 😊
NutmegAgain
@Liminal Owl: Still hacked. Hardeehar
zhena gogolia
@cain: He’s kind of an “un-PC” warrior, but not right wing, I don’t think.
Sister Golden Bear
@delphinium: More like the Battlezone arcade game.
Ksmiami
@TBone: something something French Revolution style wrt to the Robert’s Court
NutmegAgain
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: My kid was in Germany that summer–she saw his speech/campaign stop at the Siegessaule but didn’t score any merch, alas. It was a big crowd! We went to see him in Manchester NH–got pretty close, and managed a couple of those placards that campaigns hand out to audiences. And ’08 water bottles. No idea where I found those.
catclub
Zelenskyy cannot afford to assume anything about our election.
delphinium
@Sister Golden Bear: Ha Ha-yes!
Miki
@Baud: Ask Clarence T.
Jeffro
@Sister Golden Bear: the writing this season is just SO bad
related: I just explained the plethora of Mark Robinson scandals to Mrs Fro and she flat-out thought I was making it all up
heck, I would, if I were a normie!
Snarki, child of Loki
Zelenskyy is finally ready to give Trump the dirt on Hunter Biden, I’d guess.
kalakal
@cain:
@zhena gogolia:
He’s made quite a few remarks over the years bemoaning that London is no longer an English city.
Cleese London
I think it’s more a case of “I want the world of my youth/young adulthood back” in his case. He finds modern life a bit too much now he’s getting old. He now lives in the Caribbean
Geminid
@Baud: A lot of world leaders will visit the US this coming week because they’ll be speaking at the UN. President Biden hosted several in Delaware today including Indian Prime Minister Modi.
But I wonder if Trump will even meet with Zelenskyy. An interesting test of Trump’s fealty to Putin. Trump has a hard time with questions about Russia, Ukraine and Nato. He cannot give a straight answer, like he’s under duress.
David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch
@catclub:
Moreover he needs bipartisan votes in the House and Senate for appropriations
sdhays
@nasruddin: Brexit seems to have broken his brain. He made some anti immigrant comments during Brexit and I cancelled him. I didn’t want his memory to be sullied by what he had become.
West of the Cascades
@Redshift: I think this is a new development in 2024, allowing candidates and PACs to coordinate on paid canvassing efforts – here’s an article (https://www.politicallawbriefing.com/2024/03/fec-allows-nonfederal-committee-to-coordinate-paid-canvassing-efforts-with-federal-candidates/):
FEC Allows Nonfederal Committee to Coordinate Paid Canvassing Efforts with Federal Candidates
By Justin Rusk & Meredith K. McCoy on March 27, 2024
Posted in FEC, Nonprofits, PAC Compliance
The Federal Election Commission has issued an advisory opinion making it much easier for federal candidates to offload their paid canvassing programs onto state PACs, nonprofits, and super PACs. While the campaign will need to pay for access to data collected, outside groups can now coordinate their canvassing activities—including the content of messages that expressly advocate for the election or defeat of federal candidates—with the candidates themselves.
In the request, a state political committee proposed hiring vendors to canvass potential voters before the election and distribute literature that would expressly advocate for the election or defeat of both state and federal candidates. The committee planned to “coordinate” its canvass by collaborating with federal candidates on aspects like strategy and messaging. Was this, requestors asked, an in-kind contribution to the federal candidates that a state committee like this one is prohibited from making? To this, the Commission answered no.
Under the Federal Election Campaign Act and Commission regulations, third-party payments coordinated with a federal candidate or their campaign are deemed to be in-kind contributions to those candidates under either of two circumstances. First there is the “coordinated communication” rule, which specifies when certain “public communications” will be considered a coordinated in-kind contribution (which will usually be excessive or impermissible). The second, broader “coordinated expenditure” rule deems any expenditure that is coordinated with a candidate an in-kind contribution. The question the FEC resolved was whether a communication that is not within the definition of a public communication can nonetheless be a coordinated expenditure.
Canvassing is not a public communication
In analyzing the requestor’s paid canvassing program, the Commission first determined it did not qualify as a public communication, defined by regulation as a communication “by means of any broadcast, cable, or satellite communication, newspaper, magazine, outdoor advertising facility, mass mailing, or telephone bank to the general public, or any other form of general public political advertising.” Despite the seeming breadth of that phrase, the Commission concluded that “general public political advertising” did not cover the proposed canvass. The agency explained that the political advertising envisioned by the definition of “public communication” involves paying a vendor or platform, such as a television broadcaster, newspaper, or ad network, to gain access to the platform’s audience. The medium is controlled, and the audience is established, by that platform. A canvass, in contrast, requires the sponsor to preselect the voters whose homes would be visited and the means of communication. The canvass vendors have no preexisting relationship with the target audience. Thus, the canvassing vendors would neither establish the audience nor control the forum. Furthermore, the Commission noted that as a traditional grassroots activity, door-to-door canvassing is fundamentally different from the types of mass media enumerated in the definition of “public communication.” As a result, the Commission concluded the proposed canvassing program is not a public communication and thus would not qualify as an in-kind contribution under the coordinated communication rule.
But canvassing is still a communication
After determining canvassing is not a “public communication,” the Commission also turned down the idea that the canvass was a coordinated in-kind contribution under the broader “coordinated expenditure” rule. The coordinated expenditure rule, the opinion reasoned, applies to “expenditures that are not made for communications but that are coordinated with a candidate, authorized committee, or political party committee.” The proposed canvassing program is still a type of communication, and expenditures related to the program are solely for producing and distributing communications. Therefore, although the canvass does not meet the definition of “public communication,” its costs are expenditures made for communications, and the broader coordination standard did not apply either. In effect, the Commission concluded that a paid canvassing program is a communication, just not a public one. As such, the proposed canvass is not covered by either coordination standard and was not an in-kind contribution to the candidates with whom it is coordinated.
While the canvassing is exempt from these rules, any data that results from the canvass may only be transferred to the campaign at fair market rates. Otherwise, the data would be an impermissible in-kind contribution.
An advisory opinion is presented in response to the specific facts put forward by the requestor, but the ruling nonetheless provides important signals as to how the Commission is likely to analyze similar circumstances. The facts of the opinion—involving a state PAC that raised unlimited individual contributions—suggest that other types of canvass sponsors, like corporations, super PACs, and LLCs, could also coordinate canvasses. The opinion also demonstrates the limits of the current definition of “public communication” and leaves open the possibility that other types of paid peer-to-peer communications might be outside its scope and able to be coordinated between candidates and outside spenders.
Accordingly, with this advisory opinion, the Commission is allowing some flame to jump the anti-coordination firewall, potentially lighting the way for candidates to shift more costs to outside groups, all while aligning on message and strategy. While this opinion offers a blueprint, organizations, including super PACs and 501(c)(4)s, should seek specific advice when coordinating any activities with federal candidates to avoid getting burned by the nuanced anti-coordination rules and to ensure they do not jeopardize the organization’s ability to engage in other independent expenditure activity in the future.
David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch
@Geminid:
Plus the playoffs race is in full swing with the Mets hanging on for dear life against the Braves.
Geminid
@David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch: Looks like some tight Wild-card races. I think a couple NL Central Division teams are in the mix too.
I’ll be rooting for Philadelphia. With Harper, Schwarber and Turner on the roster, the Phillies are like a Nationals alumni team.
Scuffletuffle
“But only if you can afford it”…can’t afford not to…
Newfmom
@Mousebumples and @eclare:
Thanks for postcarding! I have 225 finished and 275 to go for the last mailing on Oct. 26th. I live in SC (sadly) so am trying to support the NC effort.
It makes me feel good to contribute more than money.
RevRick
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, they were annoying, but the campaign was evidently prepared, because the protesters were quickly identified and escorted out.
AnotherKevin
@WaterGirl: But here, the Harris campaign IS heavily engaged in GOTV. It has a vast number of swing state field offices, and supporting volunteers, dedicated to doing just that. I would think that giving $$ to that effort would be more useful than giving it to an organization whose efforts are at best loosely coordinated with the campaign.
Liminal Owl
@Redshift:
@Shalimar: Thanks for the correction. The place where I saw it mentioned called it hacking, and I didn’t really think about the terminology before rushing to share it here.