Low Dollar Blues

The publication of this article tells me Republicans are terrified their debate will end up like the 2020 Democratic debates, where our candidates had to come up with zingers and take crazy positions they would have had to defend in the general.

Bring. It. On.

Individual donor requirements necessitate these extreme positions and rhetorical tricks.

Low dollars are generally sent impulsively, out of emotional fervor.

Nobody whips out their phone to send $5 when a candidate gives a measured, reasonable response.

People donating $2700 are going to give it more thought. But there are a lot fewer of them.

Tom Perez did this to us, trying to keep Bernie supporters happy.

He didn’t understand they were never going to be happy. Because it wasn’t about actual policy, it was about Bernie.

This is also why we needed Biden. He was the only one who could win.

He didn’t need snappy comebacks to stupid questions to “win” debates.

He didn’t need debates. He had 50 solid years of policy work on record.

He did not need defining. And he could not be redefined.

And that’s why Biden won the Presidency.

Bernie or Warren would have been a disaster and lost in 48-state sweep.

Anyone else would’ve been painted as Bernie 2.0 and had to defend his nutty policies and the other insanity that was said in our debates.

And they would have lost in November.

People say this is an “elitist” position.

That’s lazy.

People are always welcome and encouraged to donate what they can to any candidates they like.

The problem is making candidates chase them.

They have to spending way too much money fundraising, trying to get a $1 donation out of a new donor so they can meet the threshold to get on the debate stage.

That money is better spent on effective voter contact with responsible messaging.

It’s true that someone who sends a campaign a donation — of any size — is literally invested in that candidate and far more likely to vote. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to vote for *any* Democrat. When they stop getting their red meat, they lose interest in the process completely.

That’s why Bernie supporters didn’t vote for Biden in the general but reasonable centrists, swing voters, did. And they would have been scared off by anyone else.

(Stay tuned for Part 2)