When we started Anchor Rising, we decided early on that we wouldn’t take issue positions or endorse candidates as a group. As a corollary to that, we generally don’t make pitches for campaign contributions for particular candidates. With about three weeks left in this election cycle, however, I’m going to put forth a generic campaign pitch.
Nobody who is not a professional fundraiser likes talking about money in politics. But when you need to reach thousands of people in a municipal constituency, or ten thousand people in a General Assembly district, or twenty-thousand in a State Senate district, or seven-hundred thousand in a statewide election in order to make a case for why you should be elected, going door-to-door to and meeting people face-to-face can only take you so far. Things like direct mailings and advertisements in community papers — tangible items costing tangible money — need to be a part of the process of a candidate getting his or her ideas out.
Though it seems late in the day, donations can still be meaningful in this election cycle. A little extra money might make the difference between a half-page ad and a full-page ad in a community weekly, or an extra round of mailings, or even getting an ad on to radio or TV. So if there is a candidate that you would like to see elected, but don’t think that your neighbors have heard enough about him or her, there’s a good chance that that candidate might still be able to make good use of a campaign donation. And if you are concerned that campaign money you give might not be well spent, don’t be shy about asking a candidate what the money will go towards before signing the check. Candidates with a shot at winning will have definite ideas about where they will be spending their money and what ideas they will be talking about.