Insiders: Sanders needs big money

[Demeter]

I AM POSTING THIS FOR DISCUSSION---WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK ABOUT THIS?

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/insiders-bernie-small-donors-214350

The consensus on the Vermont senator's cash haul: Small-dollars donors aren't enough to beat Hillary Clinton...Bernie Sanders rails against big money in politics and insists that he doesn’t want an allied super PAC — but the majority of Democrats in early states say he can’t rely on smaller-dollar donors alone if he wants to beat Hillary Clinton. That’s the assessment of this week’s POLITICO Caucus, our bipartisan survey of the top activists, operatives and strategists in the early states. This week, the Caucus has expanded to include South Carolina and Nevada in addition to our insiders already participating in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The consensus on Sanders’ need for big money was strong: 83 percent of South Carolina Democrats, 62 percent of Nevada Democrats and 54 percent of New Hampshire Democrats said he cannot beat Clinton with only small-dollar donors. Of Iowa Democrats, 40 percent said the same. Insiders from those states said that at best he could win a contest or two, but the big donations and unlimited contributions that a super PAC brings would be essential if his campaign stretches into the later stages of the primary season.

"Small donors are an important component but if the campaign drifts into the larger more expensive states he will need more dollars than he will receive from just small donors," said one South Carolina Democrat, who like all participants was granted anonymity in order to speak freely.

Agreed an Iowa Democrat, "During the caucus, absolutely. But it's difficult to go deep into the primary without the resources to back a full campaign in several states."

An Iowa Republican was more skeptical: "Even a socialist has to understand math. It doesn't add up. She'll crush him."

...On the Democratic side, Clinton had the best ground game across the board, insiders said.


MUCH MORE AT LINK

[HooptieWagon]

1. He seems to be doing fine.

Despite her big money, Hillary is falling in the polls in every demographic. She can't hit up her donors for more, because they've already given $2700. Bernie can tap his supporters again and again, and he doesn't need big money to buy Facebook likes and endorsements as Hillary does.

[Pharaoh]

2. Money is'nt votes

Money helps, but it's people that count.........

[Admiral Loinpresser]

3. Are these the same experts

who said Bernie was a fringe candidate without a chance? They are so twentieth century.

[Demeter]

4. The dinosaurs among us, who don't see the comet, nor feel the bern

I sincerely hope so. I am hoping that conventional wisdom in politics is overturned in the upcoming conventions....

[Le Taz Hot]

14. There's nothing traditional about Bernie's campaign.

"The Way We've Always Done It" book needs to be thrown out the window. Bernie isn't burning through money. He's not buying ads, yet, and he's squirreling it away and letting his volunteers do his for-free campaigning for him. And it's obviously working. Nobody is naïve enough to believe we don't have the steepest of hills to climb and many obstacles (mostly from the Democratic Party) will need to be overcome. But the momentum is good and the trajectory is good.

One more thing. Meg Whitman WAY outspent Jerry Brown in her run for Governor of California and Brown still won by double digits. If your candidate is unpopular, particularly running against a candidate that is VERY popular, no amount of money can buy that election for you.

[davidpdx]

16. Slight correction

She ran for Senate against Feinstein.

[Le Taz Hot]

17. Thanks, corrected.

It was Meg Whitman who ran against Brown for Governor and Fiorina ran against Feinstein. In the latter case, it was corporate money vs. corporate money. In the end, corporate money won out. Don't ya just love Democracy?

[davidpdx]

19. It's hard to tell those corporate robots apart

They all seems to spout the same shit.

[jeff47]

5. So the people who only get paid if there's big money around

say that Sanders needs big money.

Golly, I'm sure this opinion is completely unbiased.

[Aerows]

10. It is actually kind of funny

The more they come up with rovian tactics to attack Bernie Sander's strengths by attempting to cast them as weaknesses, the more desperate they look.

[merrily]

12. Exactly.

[dae]

6. As his name recognition and popularity rises so will his donations.

I firmly believe a new day is coming and change is at hand.

[SandersDem]

7. So yes...money is very important, but...

There are some differences with the Sander's campaign. First, spending...he is not having to spend big to gain big contributions. No lavish fundraising parties, flying commercial, etc...Bernie is running a frugal campaign so far. That being said, it IS going to get expensive, seriously expensive. The campaign is going to have to rely on continuous small donations, and still it might just not be enough....but if somehow it is...

Sander's will change modern politics.

Secondly, the Sander's campaign is relying VERY heavily on social media and local activist influencers. This is not expensive, but it does mean that gains need to be steady and consistent, which so far they certainly are. The campaign is stockpiling dollars and is going to need that to get beyond Super Tuesday. I think Bernie Sanders will get there.

The toughest part he faces, I think would be the General, where the Republican candidate is going to have money thrown at them like nobodies business, especially if Sander's is the nominee. At that point, I would COMPLETELY encourage him to take big money, but I know that's not how he is rolling. The other thing that is not helping is the DNC itself...even though Bernie will be bringing new voters into this Party in droves and he will change this party without question, for the good.

We are needed badly. All of the Sander's supporters, not only at DU but anywhere we gather. It is going to be on us to GOTV, Persuade, and get Active. First, we change hearts and minds. We always raise money. Then in the final weeks of the Primary and the General, we GOTV like mad, which means phone calls, lots of them. That last part isn't easy to do without a large scale well funded organization and we have to get Bernie Sanders in position to do that at that critical juncture.

[hedda_foil]

8. What is never mentioned is that he's eligible for federal matching funds.

Insiders only think about what the conventional wisdom tells them to think.

[davidpdx]

15. True and he'd opt in I'm sure of that

[Aerows]

9. Hogwash.

I mean, seriously? This is as bad as that person exhorting that Hillary will firm up the nomination in the first debate.

[eridani]

11. I wish that there was some objective way to know how much he really needs

We are in unprecedented territory with a campaign that is volunteer-driven, assisted by social media. Yes he needs a lot of money, but how much, exactly?

[Admiral Loinpresser]

13. +1 n/t

[Le Taz Hot]

18. Realistically, he's going to need $100 million

going into Super Tuesday. He's got roughly $40 million now. Don't discount the small donations. The advantage of small-money donors is that they can continue to donate. Additionally, the donor base continues to build, we haven't even had the first debate and it's still only October. If he can win New Hampshire (Iowa is still very much in question) it will boost his fundraising. At some point, he also gets matching funds from the feds.

I'm seriously not concerned about the money at this point, it's getting through the conservative Southern states that dominate Super Tuesday. Before that, it's South Carolina (which is Hillary's) and Nevada which is still in question. If he can pull off New Hampshire and Nevada he's looking MUCH better going into Super Tuesday.