Some Fundraising Letters Are Really Repulsive-- Others Are Kind Of A Joy

Yesterday marked the end of the arbitrary FEC fundraising quarter and every candidate was in a frenzy to get everyone on their mailing lists to part with their money. Some tried to do it by suckering you into their own desperation. Others were more skillful. Elizabeth aWarren, for example, sent out an e-mail Sunday evening absolutely eviscerating Status Quo Joe, without even mentioning his name:

Our campaign doesn’t belong to the wealthy and well-connected.

It doesn’t belong to Wall Street, the big banks, giant corporations, hedge funds, the NRA, fossil fuel companies, or Big Pharma— they can take their business elsewhere.

It doesn’t belong to any of the powerful special interests that swarm the halls of Capitol Hill with lobbyists— to crowd out the voices of Americans who don’t want to get ripped off by credit card companies or poisoned by toxic chemicals in their water.

I don’t sell my time to big donors who can write fat checks. I don’t take any money from federal lobbyists, corporate PACs, or PACs of any kind.

…Right now, because of decisions made in Washington— tilted and distorted by the influence of big money— our economy is only working for a thinner and thinner slice at the top.

And when you’ve got a government and an economy that work great for the rich and powerful and not for everyone else, that is corruption, pure and simple.

We need to call it out, we need to attack it head on, and we need to make big, structural change to fix it.

I’ve got a plan for that— to end Washington corruption, rebuild the middle class, save our democracy, and level the playing field for working people.

…I’m not just another politician who’s bought and paid for by the rich and powerful. My fight is your fight, and I’d be honored if you’d own a piece of our campaign by making your first donation before midnight.

Warren has geared her plea to emphasize what she is offering voters and grassroots donors. Its not just all about her career trajectory. Contrast that to a typical clueless DC politician with expensive, albeit worthless, consultants doing his donor outreach. Let’s see… eeny meanie, miney, moe… ahhhh... ole Gil Cisneros, a multimillionaire lottery winner who breezily self funded his last campaign with $9,252,762 of his lottery winnings. But this time he wants you to pay— despite the fact that he hasn’t done one damn thing for his constituents since getting to DC and even joined the Wall Street-owned and operated New Dems! Here was one of the 8 billion pathetic e-mails he sent out begging for money for people who will never have the kind of money he does-- unless they win a $50 million lottery too.

At the end of the month, we’re up against a major FEC fundraising deadline-- perhaps our most important yet. Here’s why this deadline is so crucial, and why your donation today can make all the difference:

• The National Republican Party has thrown their early support behind our opponent to avoid a contested GOP primary in CA-39. They are now getting a head start on fundraising and locking in local endorsements.
• Politico just named CA-39 one of the “most vulnerable” Democratic House seats in California. That’s because the Republicans’ flagship super PAC has already announced they are gearing up to attack Gil again.
• We’re falling short of our fundraising goal to fight back. What's worse? We’ve seen donations decrease over the last two weeks.

With presidential coverage dominating the airwaves, we’re worried that Democrats in CA are no longer focused on crucial House seats like Gil’s. That’s a problem we’re hoping you can help us fix, Howard.

As with everything… it’s all about Gil and his personal aspirations, nothing about the people he’s supposed to be represnting in Congress. Here are a few choice lines— all straight out of the DCCC playbook that Cisneros has been using to "inspire"-- manipulate-- donors this week to give him their hard-earned money so he doesn’t have to spend more of his own unearned fortune. This first one was disguised to make it look like it was sent directly to me from Cisneros' own cell phone. Does anyone fall for this kind of stupid, third-grade manipulation? I thought only the imbeciles in the GOP did this. One wait! I almost forgot; Cisneros used to be a Republican! Maybe that's why this crap appeals to him.

• June 30- "personal request for Howard-- I just got off the phone with my finance director, and it looks like we’re just shy of our fundraising target ahead of tonight's end-of-quarter deadline. I know we’ve been emailing you a lot. But the truth is I wouldn’t be doing my best to protect our House victory if I didn’t send out one final ask to close this $2,510 budget gap. Can you donate $15 before the end of the night? You’ve been incredible, and I can’t thank you enough."
• June 28- “We need a few more supporters from 90027 to help keep CA-39 blue. We’re getting close to our goal ahead of Sunday’s FEC deadline, but if we don’t raise $3,812 before midnight tonight, we’ll fall short. Can you send an urgent $3 donation to Gil’s campaign right now? We’ll be blunt: With the presidential debate coverage dominating the airwaves, we’re worried that Democrats are no longer focused on crucial House seats like Gil’s. That’s a big problem.”

• June 27- “Big win at the Congressional Baseball Game. Last night, I had a blast playing in the Congressional Baseball game. It’s a longtime tradition in Congress where Democrats and Republicans get together for some friendly competition to benefit local charities. With all the division in Congress, it was refreshing to see a spirit of camaraderie and sportsmanship between both parties. Let’s hope it lasts. I’ll be sure to do my part. It was close at first, but Democrats ran away with the win. I even got a base hit! Speaking of hits, we’ve got a big FEC fundraising deadline coming up, and I’m hoping to knock this one out of the park. Can you chip in a donation to help us hit our goal? You have been incredible, Howard, and I can’t thank you enough for your commitment to our campaign.”
• June 27- “Yesterday, we reached out with a pretty urgent plea: We got word that our opponent Young Kim was raising some serious cash at high-dollar fundraisers and we needed a surge of grassroots support to fight back. You all stepped up big time: And with the help of two of Gil’s supporters who are MATCHING donations through Sunday, we’re within striking distance of our fundraising goal ahead of Sunday’s FEC deadline!” Howard, after this FEC deadline hits, our fundraising report-- along with our opponents’-- will be made PUBLIC. These reports say a lot about a candidate.
• June 26- “We’ll start with the bad news, Howard. (Sorry) With our FEC fundraising deadline days away, we just got word that our Republican opponent Young Kim could be on the verge of posting a massive fundraising quarter. That’s very concerning. POLITICO already listed us as one of the most vulnerable Democrats in California, and National Republicans are already trying to clear the GOP field here in CA-39.”

Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me… Oh, and one more thing: he claimed in all his e-mails he doesn't accept money from PACs, hoping, I guess, his constituents haven't seen the invitations he sends to lobbyists in DC offering to sell his votes for their cash... like this one: