Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 2010

I’m in a cynical mood this morning.

I just watched a presentation by Republican National Committee Finance Director, Rob Bickart, which includes the question for RNC fundraisers: "What can you sell when you do not have the White House, the House or the Senate?" and the answer is "Save the country from trending toward Socialism." This is kind of like Pepsi launcing a new advertising campaign called "Coke is rat poison!" Is this really what our country has come to?

In neat PowerPoint pages, Bickart’s presentation lifts the curtain on the often-cynical terms of political marketing, displaying an air of disdain for the party’s donors that is usually confined to the bar-room conversations of political operatives. As this is now blowing up into a "thing," RNC Chairman Michael Steele (who wasn’t at the meeting) is distancing himself from the comments and RNC Communications Director, Doug Hey excused the matter in an email. “Fundraising documents are often controversial.

In the set of 6 slides that are headed "RNC Marketing 101," The presentation divides fundraising into two traditional categories, direct marketing and major donors, and lays out the details of how to approach each group. The small donors who are the targets of direct marketing are described under the heading “Visceral Giving.” Their motivations are listed as “fear;” “Extreme negative feelings toward existing Administration;” and “Reactionary.”

Major donors, by contrast, are treated in a column headed “Calculated Giving.” Their motivations include: “Peer to Peer Pressure”; “access”; and “Ego-Driven.” The slide also allows that donors may have more honorable motives, including “Patriotic Duty.” Also of note, there is list of "Top Senatorial Targets" including Reid, Lincoln, Bennet and Specter.

Looking at slide 69, it’s very nice to note that the RNC is already working to establish a "Recount Fund" to challenge the next election and on slide 70, the RNC points out that the Supreme Court’s Jan 21st ruling mean (to them) that "Access and Gratitude" no longer equals "Corruption." Corporations and Unions can contribute (according to the document) "Unlimited, Directly from Treasury, With disclosure."

So happy Monday to you! I guess, on the whole, this is going to be good for the markets because the Republicans are on a roll and they are going to take back the Government and this brief experiment with Democracy will come to an end. Oh and by Democracy, I mean the Democrats being in charge – I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was saying the Republicans don’t believe in Democracy. Of course they do, it says right there in the slide show that they need to buy as many votes as possible – you just can’t do that in a dictatorship!