PrintJuly 16, 2007
Signatures, but little money for Gore? (updated)
WSMV television in Nashville, Al Gore's home town, recently reported that "more than 100,000 people" have signed a petition urging Al Gore to run for president. Sounds like a lot of people really want him to run, doesn't it?
But according to Act Blue ("The online clearinghouse for Democratic action"), The Al Gore for President Draft Fund has, as of this posting, received only 165 donations, with a total of $4806 raised.
That means that fewer than 0.165% of those who supposedly signed the petition have actually donated even a buck to the draft Gore fund. Given the fact that petition-signers are obviously a group well-disposed toward donating and that there are supposed to be over 100,000 of them, such a tiny number of donors stepping up and putting up cash is curious, to say the least.
"Azihp", who blogs at Daily Kos, notes,
"...people seem confused about ActBlue's Draft page. The money goes to Gore if he declares, or the eventual Dem nominee if he does not. So its risk free."
Gore-bots never impressed me as the brightest bunch. After all, they accept Gore as a scientific authority. But even with this excuse for the poor confused supporters, this fund-raising total is pathetic. As "Azihp" notes, the undeclared Fred Thompson candidacy is raising "boatloads" of cash.
With his Live Earth concerts a bust, the turnout in Washington, DC for a free concert humiliatingly pathetic, it sounds like Al Gore is so very 90's.
Update:
We received the following email from an email account with the name DraftGore in it.
Further Update: the letter writer, who claims to be a journalism school graduate, has asked that I remove the letter from our site as it was "private". Because I didn't go to journalism school, I never learned the occult code that indicates a letter to the editor is private when it does not say so. I always thought that a letter to the editor was intended for publication unless specifically indicated to be private.
The writer complains that the ActBlue contributions are but a fraction of what DraftGore has raised, which may be true. But she provides no public sources for her claim. She was quite insulting about my professional standards of journalism, but seems to think I should report her claims as fact without any verification and without publishing her letter.
Further Update: the letter writer, who claims to be a journalism school graduate, has asked that I remove the letter from our site as it was "private". Because I didn't go to journalism school, I never learned the occult code that indicates a letter to the editor is private when it does not say so. I always thought that a letter to the editor was intended for publication unless specifically indicated to be private.
The writer complains that the ActBlue contributions are but a fraction of what DraftGore has raised, which may be true. But she provides no public sources for her claim. She was quite insulting about my professional standards of journalism, but seems to think I should report her claims as fact without any verification and without publishing her letter.
I did in fact consult Act Blue, and you can, too. Just go to the homepage http://www.actblue.com/ and click on "Candidate Directory" at the top of the page and then "Candidates for president" and then "Al Gore" and you will find the total I cited.
I wrote back to her and asked for some evidence at a Draft Gore site or at least posted posted somewhere that her claims were true. Strange that she didn't learn about not accepting the word of strangers sending emails at face value in J-school, but then again I seem to remember that Al Gore gave some J-school lectures at Columbia.
And after I asked, she did write back with a link to this page on ActBlue, revealing 845 people (less than 0.845 percent of the 100,000 signatories) had sent in almost $37,000 to draft Al Gore. I have suggested that she clue in the ActBlue folks, but she has written not one word of criticism of them or Daily Kos, for that matter. All her fury seems reserved for American Thinker, so far as her correspondence with me reveals.
So because she did finally reveal a published source (and now claims that figure needs to be revised upward), we offer this update to indicate the massive wave of support for drafting Gore, and the response rate of less than one percent of petition-signers putting up money. I hope that everyone will weigh these figures and decide independently how impressive they are.
Further update: She who must not be quoted has written back claiming that even this ActBlue total does not reflect the other funds her group has raised. But she still provides no documentation.
So because she did finally reveal a published source (and now claims that figure needs to be revised upward), we offer this update to indicate the massive wave of support for drafting Gore, and the response rate of less than one percent of petition-signers putting up money. I hope that everyone will weigh these figures and decide independently how impressive they are.
Further update: She who must not be quoted has written back claiming that even this ActBlue total does not reflect the other funds her group has raised. But she still provides no documentation.
