Cyber Stumping

DONOR INCENTIVES

Obviously, incumbent presidential candidates have long had a way to motivate big-ticket donors for the ultimate in experiential political marketing: Lincoln Bedroom overnights. But this is the first election since 1952 with no sitting president or vice president involved, so such VIP perks are off the table, at least until the ambassadorships start getting handed out.

Instead, candidates have rolled out contests to induce small contributors to fill their primary war chests. A flurry of these launched in September with the aim of making contenders' bank balances look healthy at the end of the third quarter. The prize? More often than not, plain old face time with the candidate.

The Edwards campaign selected five online contributors for a day of “Building with John” in post-Katrina New Orleans in November. McCain chose three September donors to ride with him on his tour bus. Obama sat down to dinner with two sets of contributors chosen not randomly but because they had “shared something about themselves” online. Meanwhile, Romney's campaign solicited 100-word online essays on why his fans wanted to “Hit the Trail With Mitt.” No contribution necessary, but as the Web site for the contest said, “While you're at it, show your dedication with a contribution of $100 or more.”

A few of these promotions showed signs of amateurishness. In October Sen. Chris Dodd promised to raffle off a chance to join him for game six of the American League playoffs between his beloved Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians. Participants could qualify by making a $20.04 contribution to his campaign (symbolic of the previous year the Red Sox had made the playoffs) or by recruiting 24 friends to give their contact information at his Web site. Unfortunately, Major League Baseball considers playoff tickets to be its property and has rules against using them as promotional giveaways. Dodd's campaign had to substitute a day on the campaign trail with the senator and offered refunds to any contributors who didn't think that was worth $20.04.

But others have proven either good brand positioning or at least good copy on a slow news day. Last June the Edwards campaign posted a notice on Eventful.com, a Web site where users can request local visits from bands and other entertainers, offering a personal visit from whatever locale logged the most requests. While major metros such as Los Angeles, Dallas and Seattle led the contest for much of the month, they ultimately were nudged out by a one-man Web campaign to bring Edwards to his town, Columbus, KY — population 229.

On Oct. 4 Edwards, as promised, made the trip to the tiny rural hamlet in a state whose primary is fourth from last on the schedule. So did The Washington Post, CNN's Wolf Blitzer, and other news media. All noted that Edwards drew a respectable crowd of 1,200 to a town one-fifth that size.

The brand message that event delivered about Edwards is best expressed in a reader comment from MontanaMaven to the story on Atlantic.com: “Edwards breaks the mold. The first candidate to run on a populist platform who could unite town and country, rural and city. Go, John, go.”