The would be Grand Poohbah of the Democratic Party, Harold Ickes, has joined Steve Rosenthal at America Coming Together. In his first e-mail message as ACT President, Ickes wrote:
ACT works locally, building offices and training organizers in carefully chosen precincts. We remind people of their rights and inform them about the issues that affect their lives every day. With our databases, programs and tools, we help people become effective political activists. We’ve proven that this personal, community-specific outreach gets people to the polls for Democrats in record numbers.
But the fact is, over half of you don’t live in the areas we work in. So why should you support ACT with your contributions and time?
And that’s what Ickes does best -- solicit contributions (and here). To give this, um, dynamic duo that burned through nearly $200 million the benefit of the doubt, I attended ACT’s town hall meeting.
Rosenthal, ACT's CEO, did the PowerPoint shtick that wowed 30 “high donors," who he said contributed between $1,000,000 and $20,000,000 each in the 2004 election cycle. The Democratic donors must have been high because when he finished, most of the 100 or so activists in the auditorium reached for their hat -- not their checkbook.
While Rosenthal confuses motion with movement, hardworking New Yorkers know close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. The reviews are in: ACT’s second act is a replay of last year’s show.
Comments