A decade ago campaigning became my full time volunteer job about now as we cranked up the GOTV and didn’t slow down until the polls closed. Today, the nearest competitive congressional or legislative race is over a hundred miles away, and less than 1% of Minnesota’s democratic voters are within 50 miles of my southwest Minnesota home so I can’t help our statewide candidates much either. We’ve got the odd door knock going on out here, but this old activists shaky legs can’t go far and doorknocks in general election races don’t accomplish much anyways.
WTH happened?
As recently as 2018 democrats Colin Peterson and Amy Klobuchar won my legislative and congressional district, and it didn’t change much with redistricting. Colin did it with his relentless dedication to agriculture and a rep for conservatism that riled the progressives despite his support for labor, tribal nations, and GLBT rights. Amy did it with similar dedication to agriculture and over $20 million in spending on 3 campaigns didn’t hurt. Down ballot we last won my legislative district in 2012 and now lose by at least 40%. Colin was finally defeated in 2020 by the Trump wave and our 2022 candidate has raised well under $100,000 while her GOP opponent in this safe GOP district has raised well over a million$$$. Down ballot our legislative candidates have raised but 5 digit campaign budgets and are fighting for just name recognition.
Where’d all the campaign $$$ go?
Campaign spending in the Georgia senate race alone is over $200 million and counting, and a handful of other senate races have passed over $100 million in spending. Median spending for a senate race is around $3 million and $1 million for a congressional race, and almost all of these median districts aren’t even remotely competitive. Down ballot competitive legislative races see six figure spending and at least one Minnesota district may go over the million dollar mark this year. And remember one of our most successful candidates here, Amy Klobuchar? Her $20 million plus in campaign spending is around $150,000 per house district, and that’s what we’d need to win out here.
About now some party hack will chime in with “But we can’t afford to waste money in “red” districts we’re going to loose, we need to save scarce campaign funds for districts we can win.”… Hack, take your “scarcity” argument and stuff it where the sun don’t shine!
Both major parties combined, their candidates, outside committees, dark money donors, and assorted lackeys will spend over $10 billion this cycle, that’s ten billion with a “B” or $10,000,000,000! About 60+% of that will be spent on advertising or $6 billion, which is more than top 10 advertisers Ford and GM spend together. Yup, GM and Ford are being outspent by the two major parties, and while the automakers at least spread that saturation level spend around the country and the year, the parties are funneling their billions of $$$ in a handful or maybe dozen at most “competitive” races for just a few months. Even the dumbest adman or woman will tell you that’s a total waste of campaign donations. The “scarcity” argument is now off the table…
So the big D Democratic Party and it’s wealthy buddies are blowing another hundred million dollars in the Georgia Senate race on top of the millions more spent on the Georgia Governors race and the two senate races and runoffs and presidential race in Georgia last cycle, just to further enrich the TV station owners and maybe add .1% to their candidate’s vote. Meanwhile in Iowa which the Democrats wrote off as “red” our senate candidate is within 3% of finally retiring Grassley and two democratic congressional candidates have thin leads in the polling. Minnesota 1, Nebraska 2, and Kansas 3 are competitive too and being ignored… Imagine what those campaigns could do with a million or three dollars diverted from the thoroughly saturated Georgia media market! Never mind investing a measly million of the Democrat’s petty cash to defeating the republican incumbent here in supposedly “deep red” Minnesota 7 who can only manage single digit net approval ratings from her own party.
So big “D” Democrats, quit asking me to door knock ’til I literally drop in districts you won’t even invest petty cash in. And don’t be surprised when I call you on your metro centric mismanagement, election’s 2 weeks out and I’m just gettin’ fired up!
Sassy Democrat 