Democrats Use The Web To Exploit Small Donors

Hip young Democratic newcomers like Hillary Clinton have mastered the art of fundraising over the Internets, while Republicans continue to raise campaign contributions in gold dubloons via Pony Express. Massive citizen participation in their hopeful quests has allowed Democrats to forever unshackle themselves from The Special Interests, big business, and The Lobbyists. How long will it take Republicans to catch up with these innovative fundraising techmologies?

Oh, probably forever! Just look at the terrible maths from last month: Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton raised about 80% of their February donations over the Internet, while John McCain raised 100% of his money ($24.00) by a check from an old lady at a flea market in Cincinnati. (The check later bounced.)

To counter the Democratic fundraising juggernaut, one young Republican has started up a fundraising site called SlateCard. “What I’m finding is a lot of Republican campaigns are just hiring college kids or using their son who has a Facebook account,” this young pup told the Wall Street Journal. “They don’t understand what this is all about.”

This is evidenced by SlateCard’s list of “hot candidates,” of whom one of the hottest has raised just $4700 through the site.

Small Donors Take Big Role in Election [Wall Street Journal]