John McCain Money Bomb
McCain supporters are organizing a money bomb for 08.01.08. I wish them luck, but there are some serious obstacles going against them.
I haven’t seen a swell of online organizing for McCain. There aren’t recent discussions about the money bomb on McCain’s Facebook page. Unlike Rep. Ron Paul’s and Mike Huckabee’s online grassroots efforts McCain’s supporters are scattered all over the internet. There’s no Daily Paul or Huck’s Army for McCain. A place with significant numbers of passionate McCain supporters is needed where people could share ideas and organize marketing to take things viral.
Another point is the design of the money bomb site. It’s ugly.The banners and widget code look easy enough to grab, but the site has such a GeoCities-look that I doubt many will scroll down to get the code (that doesn’t work for me).
The downfall of the Thompson money bomb (I’m still not telling how much was raised) was supporters couldn’t track how much was raised. The red truck wasn’t on the site yet. McCain can’t tap into the interesting behavior of people giving simply to watch the dollar meter go up. (I call it the “video game effect.”) Unless the McCain campaign does something to give supporters feedback a successful money bomb will be hard to accomplish.
Allahpundit worries this could be a disaster for McCain:
anything less than a surprisingly stellar haul will hand the media a ready-made narrative about (a) the enthusiasm gap, (b) the weakness of conservative fundraising online, and (c) the fact that even GOP also-rans have demonstrated more money muscle.
Realize Paul supporters tried two or three times before the first multiple-millions money bomb. And note that the Olympics will be a week later and most voters will forget about a failure. Plus, McCain isn’t known as an internet-powered campaign. The expectations are low. An unsuccessful money bomb will be seen with a “told ya so.” Now, if it brings in six to seven figures it’s good news for McCain. In order to really make that happen the McCain campaign will have to cooperate with fundraising transparency (even if temporary) and push the idea through their e-mail list. If I were at McCain HQ I’d think about a money bomb for the 24-hours after McCain officially gets the nomination.
“Video: Are You Ready for the McCain Money Bomb?”
Wouldn’t it be nice if McCain had an actual message that made people want to give?
Say what you want to about Paul’s supporters, they were hearing what they wanted to hear and they were fired up to support the message.