I get about 'leventy-'leven Democratic campaign e-mails a day. They keep making a big deal about funding deadlines. Does anyone know what they are talking about? because I have never learned how that stuff works. Every single campaign e-mail out of the last 2,000 from many Democratic candidates has been hyperventilating about a funding deadline. To be subjected to constant emergency alerts 2,000 times over a couple months has a deadening effect on one’s ability to feel the least excitement any more. They’ve sucked the life out of it. And they are currently turning it up to 111.
Every quarter the campaigns have to release reports to the FEC. Similarly, they release monthly estimates as well to the media. These are hyped pretty endlessly as a proxy for how “enthusiastic” supporters are and for how well funded the campaign will be down the stretch.
The 3rd quarter reporting period ended on Sep 30 - that’s what all the hyperventilating e-mails were about. The numbers themselves will probably come out in the next few days.
But, of course, they will come up with some other breathless reason you MUST DONATE NOW!!!1!
ETA: Actually the period ended Sep 30 but the report isn’t due until Oct 15, so you won’t see these numbers until right before the vote. Hence why these are considered the last important fundraising numbers. Cite: http://www.fec.gov/info/report_dates_2012.shtml#quarterly
ETA2: And there is a “pre-general” report for which the period ends Oct 17. So expect another deluge around then. That report is due Occt 25, so I guess technically it’s the “last” report - I don’t remember it being as big a deal as the October report, however, since it only covers like 2 weeks.
The fundraising emails are surprisingly sophisticated these days, too, so if you responded to one at an earlier date, they may have concluded that that particular type of appeal worked with you in the past, so they sent more of the same kind.
Mother Jones had an interesting article today about the amount and types of information harvesting the campaigns are using these days. Kinda like how grocery stores track your purchases and tailor your coupon offers, campaigns now track a lot of information and tailor their information and appeals.
O brave new world that has such machines in’t.