Activity Report: October 1st-20th, 2007

This is our latest installment of our Weekly ActBlue Activity Reports. This is a special 3 week edition to cover what's happened in October since our last set of reports.

Total Amount Contributed: $1,005,545.02
Total # of Contributions: 11,117
Avg. Contribution size: $90.45

Total # of Recipient Campaigns & Committees: 438

Here are the Top 5 Recipients on ActBlue by number of donors.

Rank	Name	District	Donors
1	DraftGore.com	PAC	2875
2	John Edwards	President	1452
3	Niki Tsongas	MA-05	547
4	Blue America PAC	PAC	383
5	Chris Dodd	President	354

Here are the Top 5 Candidate Recipients on ActBlue by total amount raised.

Rank	Name	District	Raised
1	DraftGore.com	PAC	$156,794.66
2	John Edwards	President	$109,261.50
3	Niki Tsongas	MA-05	$55,452.28
4	Iowa Democratic Party	Party	$26,505.00
5	Mark Warner	VA-Sen	$23,295.00

Here are the Top 5 ActBlue Fundraising Pages by number of donors.

Rank	Name	Donors	Raised	Average
1	Eschaton- Candidate Good Behavior	288	$15,218.36	$31.63
2	Don't Hurt Sick Kids	252	$7,440.06	$17.71
3	Blue America '08	226	$31,985.68	$23.12
4	People's Email Network	141	$4,760.00	$23.21
5	Draft Udall	79	$1,000.08	$7.57

It's been a busy few weeks for the start of a new fundraising quarter. Over $1 million has flowed through to Democratic campaigns. Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize caused lots of excitement among donors putting one of the draft committees urging him to run atop of the lists. Niki Tsongas recently won her special election to the MA-05 seat bringing her activity up to the top of our lists as well.

Comments

[Ian Magruder]

This is a message that I just sent through the Act Blue contact page:

I'm a very active progressive and huge fan of Act Blue, so I was puzzled to find out that you won't accept my money. According to your "Contribution Eligibility" policy I have to be 18 years old (I don't turn 18 for 3 weeks).

I've already made legal online contributions to MoveOn, the Obama campaign, and the Edwards campaign. I have a Visa credit card that is issued in my name from a large and credible bank. Why don't you accept money from minors when there is no law requiring you to?

Here is the policy on the John Edwards contribution page:
"If a minor, I am voluntarily making this contribution, which consists of my own funds; my contribution is not controlled by another individual and is not made from a gift given to me to make this contribution."

Can't you change your policy to accept contributions from enthusiastic young progressives the same way other organizations like MoveOn do?

Thanks,
Ian Magruder

[leftcoastjane]

I just read at Edwards' site that the FEC is refusing to match with public funds any money coming from ACTBLUE. I think you need to tell prospective Edwards donors that, so they can go direct to Edwards' own site to donate, so their $ can be matched with public matching funds. Edwards is one of the few leading candidates who opted in to the FEC public campaign financing limitations, and should be supported, not punished for doing that.