Democrat Bill Foster’s campaign has raised more money from donors (not including candidate self-funding) than any other Democrat or Republican in the 14th Congressional race. He totally dominated the 3rd quarter for small dollar donations (under $200) collecting more than all other Democratic candidates combined and almost as much as all Democratic and Republican candidates combined. In the 3rd quarter Bill had 680 donors - a sizable number and more than most (and possibly all) other candidates. Eighty percent of Bill Foster’s donors in the 3rd quarter were new contributors to any political candidate ever - and his contributions have a relatively modest average of just over $300 per donor.
With statistics like these you would think Democratic activists would widely celebrate Bill Foster’s campaign as a grassroots campaign. While I think they’ll come around, if area blogs like Prairie State Blue are any indication, it hasn’t happened yet. Why?
I think one major reason is that a major group funding Bill Foster’s campaign thus far (70% of donors in the 3rd quarter) is scientists and engineers.* They are both relatively newer to politics (almost by definition Foster’s are since the vast majority have never contributed to a candidate before) and likely are not heavily represented among established Democratic activists that discuss and blog about the 14th Congressional District. But just because Bill’s supporters are newer doesn’t mean they lack legitimacy as grassroots activists.
The other reason is that Bill Foster through innovation and business acumen accumulated a lot of wealth in his life, co-founding a highly successful lighting company at age 19, and he is using some of his wealth to fund his campaign. I believe in public financing of campaigns and am sympathetic to candidates (and their supporters) arguing that there should be a level playing field. However, in this case, I don’t accept the criticism as legitimate. Bill Foster, to reiterate, leads the entire Democratic field in total donations from people who are not Bill Foster. Moreover, he likely leads the Democratic field and Republican field in the percentage of new-to-political-donating donors, the total number of donors and likely is among the top in the number of people the candidate has personally called to solicit donations (2,200 from August to October) - those aren’t numbers that have anything meaningfully to do with Bill Foster’s personal wealth. Those number speak to Bill Foster’s personal experience and commitment as a candidate.
Democrat Bill Foster is bringing new people into politics - and that’s a good thing. You may not yet know the grassroots supporting Bill - but they’re there, and I suspect they’re growing.
Notes:
* “Scientists are defined as listed occupation being either scientist, physicist, engineer or professor of physics.”
Post a Comment