News analysis: breaking down McCain’s e-fundraising letter of June 11 - “National Call Day - June 14″
The Tower breaks down the e-fund-raising letter sent out under the signature of campaign manager Terry Nelson on Monday, June 11. Here’s the full text of the mass e-mail which The Tower received:
“Team McCain -
Our campaign will be hosting a National Call Day this Thursday, June 14th, during the campaign’s final push to raise funds before the June 30th financial reporting deadline and we need you to participate!We are enlisting the help of all John McCain supporters to either reach out to their network of friends, family and colleagues to raise money for the campaign or call lists of potential donors provided by the campaign to raise money for the Senator. All donors who make a co
ntribution on the National Call Day will receive a free McCain 2008 bumper sticker. In addition, callers will have the opportunity to set fundraising goals for themselves. Those who meet or exceed their goals have the opportunity to receive special McCain 2008 gear like our mouse pad, lapel pin, t-shirt, hat and fleece. There will even be an exclusive grand prize for the caller who raises the most money!
I urge you to sign up to participate on Thursday, June 14th. To sign up, please follow this link and enter your contact information and donation goal. Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,
Terry Nelson
Campaign Manager
P.S. The McCain campaign is putting on our first National Call Day and you’re invited to participate! Please follow this link to sign up to make calls this Thursday, June 14th. You can choose to either sign up to reach out to your own contacts or call lists of potential donors provided by the campaign or better yet - both! Your hard work and support is greatly appreciated.
The Tower’s analysis:
It is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of political fund-raising phone calls from volunteers. One reason is the changing technology. The rise of nonpolitical telemarketing - and its effectiveness at low cost - has prompted the creation of formidable defensive barriers to it, such as Caller ID, No-Call lists, and the like.
Clearly, the frequency of the solicitation of funds - and the varying formats for doing so - reflects the fact that the campaign - like all campaigns - feels that it needs to put up big numbers at the end of the month.
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