×
OBAMA'S HAUL. The big news today is that Obama raised 100 kajillion dollars in small-sum donations from every individual on the planet earth. Or $25,000,000 from 100,000 individuals, which, honestly, is almost as impressive. That's an average (mean) donation of $250 per donor, which counts as small donations. It'll be very interesting to see what the median donation was, and, if the campaign releases the information, how the distribution broke down. It also points the way towards a campaign finance system based on the principles our own Mark Schmitt laid out in a recent article for Democracy, in which he argued for "small donor democracy":
Give small donors the same opportunity to express the intensity of their preferences as large donors. Don�t build complex systems that put government in the position of trying to equalize all resources or ban all contributions. Instead, let voters shape the process through their own preferences, through organizing to enhance their power, and by using public funds to echo and enhance the preferences of ordinary citizens. Avenues by which large contributions influence politics will remain, whether they take the form of PACs, 527 committees, other nonprofits, or blogs. The best we can do is to offset their influence by broadening the range of voices that can be heard, as opposed to enhancing their influence by closing off other channels of money.In other words, what if every small donor who gave Obama $100 bucks saw their donation federally matched to $300 (a 3X match)? Obama would be fiercely competitive, and could have probably spent less time raising bundled contributions from interest groups and corporate donors. A world where a brand new candidate can attract 100,000 donors is a world in which small donor democracy actually can flourish, and the current corporate hammerlock can be weakened, or even rendered obsolete.--Ezra Klein
