Tom Steyer likes me. He really does! He likes me so much that he emailed me out of the blue late yesterday afternoon:
Subject: Live from Times Square: IMPEACH DONALD TRUMP
If you happened to be walking around Times Square today, like countless Americans do every day, you may have noticed something:
A brand new Need To Impeach digital billboard, featuring a map and a running count of the 2.5 million Americans (and growing by the second!) who have already signed our petition to impeach Donald Trump.
We launched this billboard in Times Square for a simple reason: The American people, Congress, and President Trump himself need to see the nationwide strength of our movement.
So we’re making a splash that millions of people will see — and we hope you’ll share it far and wide, so folks who aren’t walking around Times Square can see it, too.
The email goes on to include a link to share a Facebook video, and with Steyer footing the bill, his campaign sees no need to ask me for money…this time.
Of course, I never signed up for his “Need to Impeach” email list, making this message a classic example of political spam via a purchased (or swapped) list. We’re written before about campaigns’ addiction to list-buying and the ill effects it can have, plus some best practices for carrying out an EFFECTIVE list swap with another organization in your field. NOT a best practice? Cold-emailing people who haven’t opted-in to your list, which is likely to prompt a blizzard of spam complaints and a guarantee that few of your future messages will arrive in the inbox.
Steyer’s apparently planning to spend at least $20 million to promote his Trump impeachment drive, much to the annoyance of Democratic politicos and most anyone else who opposes Trump and has a basic political memory. How’d that Clinton impeachment work out? Let’s hear it for that Scott Walker recall, folks! Not even the timing’s good: why bring up impeachment when Mueller’s probe seems likely to do the job for us?
Meanwhile, the Republicans are ramming through a tax bill that threatens America’s economy (and the world’s) for the benefit of a vanishingly small number of extremely wealthy people. In these times, don’t you think Steyer could find better ways spend $20,000,000? Let’s help him, via these convenient, pre-packaged Tweets. For those of you scoring at home (and we hope you are), add your own examples using the hashtags #SpendSteyersMoney & #BetterSteyerCash. Play early, play often!
Tom Steyer: $20,000,000 could paper the equivalent of 40 football fields with $1 bills. Let's paint the town green! #SpendSteyersMoney #BetterSteyerCash Click To Tweet Tom Steyer: $20,000,000 could pay for a $2500 digital training (incl travel) for 8000 individual state legislative campaigns. #SpendSteyersMoney #BetterSteyerCash Click To Tweet Tom Steyer: Instead of impeachment ads, how about spending $20,000,000 to buy $5000 of online ads...for 4000 individual state legislative candidates. #SpendSteyersMoney #BetterSteyerCash Click To Tweet Tom Steyer: $20,000,000 would support at least 200 paid field organizers in crucial congressional districts for an entire year (assuming 100k per head for pay & expenses). #SpendSteyersMoney #BetterSteyerCash Click To Tweet Tom Steyer: Reclaim the title of world's tallest building for the USA with a 7160-foot stack of $1 bills. Take THAT, Burj Khalifa! #SpendSteyersMoney #BetterSteyerCash Click To Tweet– cpd