The Scarlet Letter
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DISCLOSE Act fails again in Senate
by Dave Nyczepir / Jul 17 2012
For the second day in a row, the Senate failed to advance a new version of the DISCLOSE Act.
In a 53-45 vote, the Senate again blocked the measure requiring outside groups to disclose the names of donors who contribute $10,000 or more in a given election cycle. The legislation is an attempt to curb the impact of the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision.
The second vote was an attempt by
Perfecting the donation button
by Matthew Dybwad / Jul 17 2012
In the age of online donations, web developers in the political space are getting hung up on the color of their donation buttons.
Don’t laugh—it might seem like an odd thing to have anxiety over, but choosing to donate is the most important action a client wants a user to take on their website. Accordingly, clients want that button to be eye-catching—sometimes to the point of obnoxiousness.
Yes, it's the most important
Campaign finance bill blocked in Senate
by Dave Nyczepir / Jul 16 2012
A new version of the DISCLOSE Act, legislation pushed by Senate Democrats, failed to garner the 60 votes it needed Monday to move forward in the Senate.
In a 51-44 vote, the Senate failed to advance the measure requiring third party groups to disclose the names of donors who contribute $10,000 or more in a given election cycle. The legislation is an attempt to curb the impact of the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens
Study: YouTube growing as platform for news
by Erika Spicer / Jul 16 2012
The video-sharing website YouTube is a growing source of information for news, according to a new study conducted by the Pew Research Center for Excellence in Journalism.
Pew monitored YouTube’s most-viewed news videos spanning from January 2011 to March 2012—cataloguing the five most popular videos each week on YouTube’s “news & politics” channel. It found that for five of the study’s 15 months, news-related events topped the most-searched list.
The
Is text-to-donate ready for primetime?
by Erik Nilsson / Jul 16 2012
Did anyone ask the wireless carriers if they would support text-to-donate political donations before the FEC made their ruling? It appears not.
Last week the CTIA, the carriers’ trade association (basically Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile), stated—and I paraphrase: "Hold your horses. There are a lot of campaign finance details that have not been figured out. We need more guidance from the FEC."
I can't say I’m surprised. First of all, the individuals
Square rolls out new options for campaigns
by Dave Nyczepir / Jul 13 2012
The mobile fundraising platform Square is making a handful of new features available to campaigns from the top of the ballot on down.
Since January, the campaigns of both President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney have made use of the mobile card reader to collect donations at campaign events across the country. But now, some features tailored specifically to the presidential campaigns are available to down-ballot candidates.
The three-pronged update makes data
Obama staffer collapses at campaign headquarters, dies
by Shane D'Aprile / Jul 13 2012
Alex Okrent, a 29-year-old Obama campaign staffer, died Friday after collapsing at Obama campaign headquarters in Chicago.
According to a report in the Chicago Sun Times, paramedics were called to Obama headquarters and Okrent was taken to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
President Obama, who was campaigning in Virginia on Friday, called Okrent's family to offer his condolences. The president also spoke to staffers at his Chicago
Money and the air war
by Chris Palko / Jul 12 2012
News that Mitt Romney outraised Barack Obama by $35 million in June now makes it two months in a row that he has outraised the president. At the moment, Obama still has an advantage when it comes to cash on hand, but the president's campaign also has a much higher burn rate.
If Romney continues to outraise Obama, at some point he will take the cash-on-hand lead, and that could make this contest
Twitter: The digital megaphone?
by Alena Baisden / Jul 12 2012
Gone are the days of going door to door to share a petition, making phone calls to get people to attend a rally, or standing on street corners shouting out in the name of your cause. In this day and age, people who support your campaign or cause are more easily accessible in masses through that wonderful tool we call the Internet.
In many ways Twitter (and other forms of social media) has
Bass 'push poll' case remains in state court
by Dave Nyczepir / Jul 11 2012
A lawsuit alleging violations of New Hampshire's "push poll" law on the part of Rep. Charlie Bass's (R) campaign committee will be decided in state court, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.
Attorneys for Bass wanted to have the case heard in federal court, arguing the state law is preempted by the Federal Election Campaign Act, but that request was denied by U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro.
The suit was filed
The comm director's survival guide
by Ryan Rudominer / Jul 11 2012
Six years ago this week I made the career-altering decision to temporarily leave Washington, D.C. to join a top-tier congressional race.
Rahm Emanuel, who was then chairing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, had asked me to take a leave of absence from my job with Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) and move to Media, Pa. Waiting for me there was the comm director position on former Vice Admiral Joe Sestak’s House campaign. I landed
Presidential race heats up online after healthcare decision
by Alena Baisden / Jul 06 2012
It’s no surprise that last Thursday’s Supreme Court decision to uphold the individual mandate was an immediate game-changer in the 2012 race for the White House. The campaigns of both President Obama and Mitt Romney can report successes in terms of support and fundraising.
The instantaneous online response that came from both sides of the political spectrum in the aftermath of the decision wasn't a surprise either. As soon as the decision was
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