The California Primary Ends A Week From Tomorrow— And Katie Porter Just Made A Big Mistake

Selling Lists Is Bad, Bad, Bad

Yesterday, I was chatting on the phone with one of the top national political consultants. He was incensed about Katie Porter selling her e-mail list and I was surprised anyone else noticed, let alone as angry about it as I was. We agreed that there is something personal about the relationship between a politicians and their grassroots, online donors and it seemed like Katie was breaking a trust. My consultant friend asked if he could write a guest post about it and I agreed. (He didn’t want to use his name, probably in case she ever wants to hire his firm in the future.)

When DC Tactics Meet The Vote

by Anonymous Consultant

For years, establishment Democratic operatives have trained young, up-and-coming political staffers that the key to online (digital) fundraising is to “churn and burn” lists. It is a tactic born out of the 2005 - 2007 DCCC leadership. Long and short of it is they watched the first ever successful online fundraiser, Howard Dean, build up a massive infrastructure of grassroots donors. Rather than seeing this as a positive change from the days of corrupt soft money infiltrating campaigns, they saw this new trend first as a threat too their own preeminence and eventually as just another revenue stream for themselves and their consulting class. 

In layman terms, this tactic consists of pouring early resources into list acquisition (buying lists from more established candidates/committees), spamming these lists relentlessly to earn back the cost (and maybe a profit), and then selling the lists to suck some late money for their fledgling campaigns, or more likely, to cover their debt. In truth, it has worked for many races. But like any financial fad/scheme, all easy money hits a wall. And that wall usually consists of consequences greater than anyone anticipated.

The reason this tactic has worked, largely, is that although it has consistently pissed off those at the receiving end (the donors/voters), there is most often no choice for these folks. Sure, their emails/cells are being spammed by people they have never heard of, but the ask is often an impossible request to ignore: "give $5 to beat a nazi Republican who wants to take away xyz of your rights." Voters who are on these lists are accustomed to just dealing with the barrage of spam and then ignoring the bullshit because they won’t ever vote for some horrible alternative (aka a Republican).

Many, like Howie Klein and myself, have argued for years that this trend would come to an end and not only would it leave many candidates broke, it would cause voters to abandon their previously preferred choices in an election. Katie Porter is about to learn that lesson…

Just this week, it was reported that Katie sold her email and phone lists (in a self described bidding war) for a late infusion of campaign cash as more and more polling is showing her coming in third to Schiff and Republican Steve Garvey. On face value (which is all Politico can ever cover due to their inability to hire any reporter with an IQ over 110), this seems clever, right? In this instance, not only is it not clever, it’s suicidal— politically speaking. 

California Democratic voters are holding onto their ballots. Just this morning, the AP covered the relatively low participation of Democratic votes relative to Republican votes. Such a trend is due to voter hesitation because of the choice at the top of the ticket (the US Senate race). Partisan (primary voting) Democrats are faced with the tough choice between Schiff (a Trump fighting MSNBC hero with a mildly decent record), Barbara Lee (a progressive champion but who many see as having no chance), and Katie Porter (a progressive Elizabeth Warren disciple who has built a real brand with her white board and anti-corporate jargon). 

Well, it’s decision time, and partisan Democrats (many of whom have been getting very personal emails from Katie for years) are seeing their years of loyalty to and love for Katie being sold to the highest bidder. Primary voting Democrats are not morons. They are more of an insider voter, who make decisions based on a set of facts (not only R vs. D) in a primary. Katie Porter has shown that she is nothing more than an establishment shill, in selling her lists. She is the DCCC, DSCC, and DNC wrapped in a pretty bow, carrying a mildly clever white board. 

The result— watch for Barbara Lee to surge a bit, taking the vote directly away from Katie. Adam was almost always going to be in the top two, but this latest stunt of Katie’s will cost her in the way of votes and a second place finish becoming a distant third. And if she wants to come back down the line, she won’t be able to count on that email list to fund her efforts.