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Is Biss “building a movement” or just piling up cash from big donors?

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Illinois

* Press release…

Democratic candidate for Illinois governor Daniel Biss released his second quarter fundraising results today, reporting more than $1.015 million in receipts and more than $2.3 million cash on hand.

The total represents more in funds raised and cash on hand than the entire Democratic field of candidates who are raising money for their campaigns combined.

In response, Biss Campaign Manager Abby Witt released the following statement:

“Some may be surprised that we’re competitive with established brand name candidates, but our fundraising totals confirm what we already know: People looking for an alternative to J.B. Pritzker—and wary of a strategy that tries to out-Rauner Bruce Rauner—are looking to Daniel Biss.

“With each new small-dollar donation and each volunteer hour, we’re showing that people are building a movement powerful enough to take on the billionaires and the political machine.”

* “Small-dollar” donations and a “movement”? Hmm. Let’s look at the report.

About half of Biss’ money, $501K, came from contributions of $10,000 or higher. And $350K of that was from contributions of $50K or more, about 35 percent of his total.

Another $291K came from contributions of between $1,000 and $9,999. Another $56K came from contris of $500 to $999.

That all comes to about $847K, which is about 84 percent of his total reported.

But, are “small-dollar: contributions defined as under $500? To some, yes. To others, $500 or even $100 is a lot of money. So, add in the $100-499 contributions and you get another $74K.

By the way, Biss’ report also shows that he raised almost $307K from political action committees, about 30 percent of his total.

Biss listed $88K in unitemized receipts and 161 contributions ranging from $1.50 to $99 that came to just under $5K in contributions. That totals $93K, or about 9 percent of the total he reported raising.

Count $100 contributions and less as small donors (about $16K from 271 contributions), add in unitemized receipts and you come up with $104K, or about 10 percent of the total raised.

* What Biss is doing is putting together a relatively strong campaign finance operation with a pretty good but still not quite there yet small-dollar component. So, this idea that he’s got a “movement” going on doesn’t really hold up because his report would look a whole lot different if he did.

Now, building a “movement” can take time, so maybe this will change. Right now, it’s mainly spin.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 1:10 pm

Comments

So the only component of “building a movement” is the ratio of small donation total dollars in comparison to large donations dollars?

Ground game plays no factor? Facebook shares? Size of crowds at rallies?

Comment by Mean Gene Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 1:22 pm
I’m sure that money will buy something! Bernie Sanders, he’s not.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 1:26 pm
A movement? That might require one’s name ID breaking double digits which his is not. I respect campaigns needing to spin quarterly filings, but let’s not exaggerate reality.

Comment by Shytown Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 1:27 pm
That seems like a somewhat narrow definition of a “movement”.

I’d really like to see a non-Kennedy-internal poll of the primary to see how Biss is doing.

Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 1:43 pm
It would be useful to know the numbers of contributors in the “unitemized receipts.” Measuring the breadth of a movement by the percentage of small contributions raised seems like a flawed methodology. It undervalues $3 & $20 contributions and overvalues $99 ones. A percentage measure also tells us less if, like Biss, you’re also raising a lot at the top(ish).

To see breadth of support, we’d really need to know the number of contributors under a certain amount, not the percentage that represents. And it would be nice to know how that number compares to the number of small contributions for other candidates, which I’m sure is easy enough to find out (just not finding it at the moment).

Regardless, it seems right to say that he’s being pragmatic. He’s up against moneybags themselves and needs to at least play in their sandbox.

Comment by Periwinkle Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 1:52 pm
== Right now, it’s mainly spin. ==

That’s legit, from the small donor perspective. But given they way he outperformed Kennedy, it’s hard to see anything but good news for Biss here. Still a long way to go, but he’s positioned pretty well for a relatively unknown candidate.

Comment by Roman Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 1:52 pm
He’s doing both at this point.

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:07 pm
I would not call Elaine Nekritz, Sen. McGuire, the Senate Democrats a movement. Look at the amount of money they each game him. Lots of talk in that campaign. I assume he wants to run for Jan’s seat. He hasn’t measured up yet. The low hanging fruit is gone.

Comment by me Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:38 pm
Money is indeed the gasoline that keeps the motor of a political machine running. Where it comes from and how it is spent are also telling.

Yet with only 10% of the raised funds coming from contributions of $100 or less could be problematic of you are truly building a movement. In addition, in looking at the list, I don’t think I found more than a half dozen, large or small, that were not from the Chicago area. Illinois is a large and diverse state.

Comment by illini Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:54 pm
**I would not call Elaine Nekritz, Sen. McGuire, the Senate Democrats a movement**

Take them out, and he STILL raises more than Kennedy did. #JustSaying

Comment by JoeMaddon Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 3:14 pm
Biss seems to have formed plenty of local volunteer groups, with people who have not given money to his campaign. We shall see.

Comment by walker Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 3:20 pm
Biss doesn’t need to spin this into a movement, he is outraising the current favorite in the Illinois Democratic gubernatorial primary according to Kennedy’s own poll. That’s all you need to say. The movement narrative has eight months to take hold don’t push it. Just push the facts.

Comment by Almost The Weekend Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 3:34 pm
I’ll echo what other commenters are saying here: it’s early, it’s clear the Biss team is running a disciplined operation that is both punching above its weight class (as well as Kennedy’s, as it happens) AND setting itself on a good path for growth. I’ve seen more grassroots energy for Biss than any of the other candidates, and as for the Bernie comparison: at this point in 2015 Bernie didn’t have any congressional backers (Biss has one, plus state legislative backers that are important on the state level). He’s playing his cards right, not sure it’s worth the scare quotes in this post.

Comment by Leon Despres Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 3:48 pm
===Take them out, and he STILL raises more than Kennedy===

Nope.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 4:29 pm
**===Take [Nekritz, McGuire, SDEMS] out, and he STILL raises more than Kennedy===

Nope.**

Nekritz, McGuide, SDEMs gave Biss $205k. Biss outraised Kennedy by $300k. If you throw Harmon ($30k) and Bush/Mulroe (another $10k) it gets you to $245k.

Comment by JoeMaddon Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 4:45 pm
I will not vote for Biss

He thinks that he is the smartest person alive and with Kelly Cassidy supporting him, That is all I need to know to never vote for him

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 4:56 pm
Is raising this money Biss’ way to get in line for Sen. Leadership position in the next year?

Comment by Common sense Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 5:56 pm
===He thinks that he is the smartest person alive===

Is it really that bad to think you’re smart if you’re *actually* smart? Personally, after a rash of dunderhead politicians, I’m ready for some with brains. I want my governor to be smarter than me.

Comment by Periwinkle Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 5:58 pm
Common sense, Biss is giving up his Senate seat to run for governor.

Comment by Periwinkle Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 5:59 pm
I’d like an alternative to Pritzker. Count me in.

Comment by Bee Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 6:31 pm
Biss, with his anti-gun owner rhetoric will not garner more than 2 out of 5 union households. Take that to the old gun safe.

Comment by blue dog dem Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 8:34 pm
The important thing to take away from the financial report - and the one Rich has completely missed - is that the only Democratic candidate with actual experience in State government is raising a respectable amount of money. After the Scheissesturm of the present administration, I think someone who actually knows what a budget is, has an idea of how government works — and has actually worked hard at both — would be refreshing.

Comment by Aidan Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 8:37 am