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*Exclusive: RNC document mocks donors, plays on 'fear'*
By: Ben Smith
March 3, 2010 04:23 PM EST

The Republican National
Committee<http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/RNC> plans
to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign
capitalizing on “fear” of President Barack
Obama<http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/BarackObama> and
a promise to "save the country from trending toward socialism."

The strategy was detailed in a confidential party fundraising
presentation<http://www.politico.com/static/PPM136_100303_rnc_finance_leadership.html>,
obtained by POLITICO, which also outlines how “ego-driven” wealthy donors
can be tapped with offers of access and “tchochkes.”

The presentation was delivered by RNC Finance Director Rob Bickhart to top
donors and fundraisers at a party retreat in Boca Grande, Florida on
February 18, a source at the gathering said.

In neat PowerPoint pages, it lifts the curtain on the often-cynical terms of
political marketing, displaying an air of disdain for the party’s donors
that is usually confined to the barroom conversations of political
operatives.

The presentation explains the Republican fundraising in simple terms.

"What can you sell when you do not have the White House, the House, or the
Senate...?" it asks.

The answer: "Save the country from trending toward Socialism!”

Manipulating donors with crude caricatures and playing on their fears is
hardly unique to Republicans or to the RNC – Democrats raised millions
off George
W. Bush <http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/GeorgeWBush> in similar
terms – but rarely is it practiced in such cartoonish terms.

One page, headed “The Evil Empire,” pictures Obama as the Joker from Batman,
while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leaders Harry Reid are
depicted as Cruella DeVille and Scooby Doo, respectively.

The document, which two Republican sources said was prepared by the party’s
finance staff, comes as Chairman Michael
Steele<http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/MichaelSteele>
struggles
to retain the trust and allegiance of major donors, who can give as much as
$30,400 a year to the party.

Under Steele, the RNC has shifted toward a reliance on small donors, but the
document reveals extensive, confidential details of the strategy for luring
wealthy checkwriters, which range from luxury retreats in California wine
country to tickets to a professional fight in Las Vegas.

The 72-page document was provided to POLITICO by a Democrat, who said a hard
copy had been left in the hotel hosting the $2,500-a-head retreat, the
Gasparilla Inn & Club. Sources at the event said the presentation was
delivered by Bickhart and by the RNC Finance Chairman, Peter Terpeluk, a
former ambassador to Luxembourg under President George W. Bush.

The RNC reacted with alarm to a question about it Wednesday, emailing major
donors to warn them of a reporter’s question, and distancing Steele from its
contents.

“The document was used for a fundraising presentation Chairman Steele did
not attend, nor had he seen the document,” RNC Communications Director Doug
Heye said in an email. “Fundraising documents are often controversial.

“Obviously, the Chairman disagrees with the language and finds the use of
such imagery to be unacceptable. It will not be used by the Republican
National Committee – in any capacity – in the future,” Heye said.

The most unusual section of the presentation is a set of six slides headed
“RNC Marketing 101.” The presentation divides fundraising into two
traditional categories, direct marketing and major donors, and lays out the
details of how to approach each group.

The small donors who are the targets of direct marketing are described under
the heading “Visceral Giving.” Their motivations are listed as “fear;”
“Extreme negative feelings toward existing Administration;” and
“Reactionary.”

Major donors, by contrast, are treated in a column headed “Calculated
Giving.”
Their motivations include: “Peer to Peer Pressure”; “access”; and
“Ego-Driven.”

The slide also allows that donors may have more honorable motives, including
“Patriotic Duty.”

A major Republican donor described the state of the RNC’s relationship with
major donors as “disastrous,” with veteran givers beginning to abandon the
committee, which is becoming increasingly reliant on small donors.

The party’s average contribution in 2009, according to the document, was
just $40, and the shift toward a financial reliance on the grassroots may
help explain Steele’s increasingly strident tone toward the Obama
Administration.

While the crude portrayal of Obama may be - as Steele ‘s spokesman put it -
“unacceptable,” other elements of the presentation may be of equal interest
to close political observers.

The RNC plans to raise $8.6 million from major donors alone in 2010, less
than 10% of its total 2009 fundraising take, which was primarily from small
donors."


The center of that plan is an extensive, and colorful, schedule of events.
Along with traditional fundraisers with conservative luminaries including
Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol and former presidential candidate Steve
Forbes, the party plans to raise $80,000 for a trip to London to meet David
Cameron, the British Conservative Party leader, on September 17.

The RNC’s “Young Eagles” – younger major donors and the only group,
according to a major donor, continuing to pull its weight financially – are
invited to a “professional bull riding event” in October, expected to raise
$50,000, and to a no-holds-barred Ultimate Fighting Championship fight in
Las Vegas the same month, expected to raise $60,000.

The RNC’s aim, according to one section of the document: “Putting the Fun
Back in FUNdraising.”

*CORRECTION: The RNC raised a total of $81 million in 2009. An earlier
version of this story understated that figure.*
--
Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners
(202) 333-1880
[email protected]