The University College of Citizenship and Public Service hosted an informal discussion yesterday with Tufts alumnus Alan Solomont, who is now head of John Kerry's Massachusetts fundraising committee.
Fundraising is an integral, but difficult, part of managing a presidential campaign, said Solomont, who is currently working on his fifth campaign and also serves as vice-chair of finance for the Kerry Campaign.
Solomont addressed a small group of students and faculty in a "brown bag lunch" setting, where attendees were encouraged to bring meals to the discussion.
Tom Birmingham, former Massachusetts Senate president, introduced Solomont as the "most effective [fundraiser] in Massachusetts and probably nationally as well."
Solomont began by describing the first modern presidential election, between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan. McKinley's campaign fundraiser Mark Hanna raised over $6 million, providing McKinley's campaign the opportunity of regular press releases and other advantages.
Solomont quoted Hanna as saying, "There are two important things in politics. The first is money, and I can't remember the other."
Campaigns have become so expensive because of the advent of broadcast campaigning, Solomont said. "Between 1956 and 1968, spending on broadcast campaigning went from $10 million to $60 million," he said.
"Television has changed [political campaigning]," Solomont said. "In the 1960's, young people were not as passionate [about politics]. Technology has allowed campaigns to take specific directions to influence people."
He said "political giving is a learned behavior." Candidates spend large amounts of time fundraising and attempting to coerce the general public and special interests to contribute to their cause.
After the passage of recent campaign finance reform laws, which at first seemed disadvantageous to the Democratic Party, Solomont said the Democrats have reached fundraising parity with the Republicans due to the efforts of the Kerry campaign.
The campaign, which raised $35 million before Super Tuesday (March 2) and $80 million before the Democratic National Convention, surpassed the $100 million total of President Bush's 2000 campaign total early on.
Solomont said the Kerry campaign was initially concerned about competing with the fundraising efforts of Howard Dean, who had an extensive Internet campaign and was raising an "unprecedented" $10 million per month.
The Kerry campaign soon adopted a similar strategy - two days after Super Tuesday, when Kerry was presumed to be the Democrat presidential nominee, his campaign raised over $2.6 million on the Internet.
Like Dean, Kerry refused to take federal matching funds in the primaries, which permitted him to raise money up to the Democratic National Convention, making his campaign much more competitive.
Solomont said his interest in campaign fundraising stemmed from the fact that fundraising has opened up the political process to an incredible amount of people. "It has engaged folks in the [political] process, and has the potential to do so even more," he said.
As for November's presidential election, Solomont is confident Kerry will prevail.
He said that there are over 1,500 Democratic organizers in 15 "battleground states" working to educate voters.
He said the "key to victory [is] mobilizing voters in the fields." The more active and involved voters are, "the more positive the outcome is. We have to believe this is a good thing and that it bodes well for the democracy."
