| AP |
E-mailing for dollars
John Edwards
may be lagging behind rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the fundraising game, but his campaign certainly gets points for creativity and doggedness in pursuing those donations.Earlier this spring, Edwards appealed for dollars in two e-mails after conservative pundit Ann Coulter referred to him with a slur and suggested that he should be “killed in a terrorist assassination plot.”
Then in early June, the campaign pegged a plea for small dollars to the candidate’s June 10 birthday. Suggesting that supporters send in $6.10 (representing his birth date), $19.53 (the year of his birth) or $54 (his age), the campaign offered to send Edwards’ mother Bobbie’s pecan pie recipe in return.
On June 21, the campaign turned to texting, buzzing the message “Will u donate $ to my campaign?” to the phones of 13,000 supporters.
An effort to raise $9 million beforethe second quarter ended on June 30 resulted in e-mails at 72, 48 and 12 hours from the deadline begging for cash. But it didn’t end there. After the campaign reached its $9 million goal, campaign manager David Bonior sent out a missive proclaiming “WE DID IT!” and asking for an additional “$5, $10, whatever you can spare.”
On July 12, the campaign asked for $25 donations to “help us spread the word on the issues that matter in the key early states.”
Finally, earlier this month, Edwards used the figure that one in eight Americans suffers from poverty to appeal for $8 donations.
The Edwards camp did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment about its efforts.
