the day after the day after

From the New York Times’ Matt Bai’s post to The Caucus:

Yesterday, on a day when two languishing campaigns finally succumbed, I called Tracy Russo in Chapel Hill to find out what was happening. The 26-year-old Russo was in charge of John Edwards's blog strategy; you might say she fulfilled the traditional role of a press secretary, only for the netroots. I'd gotten to know her earlier this year through some other bloggers, and I knew she was a passionate believer in her candidate and his liberal cause. . . .

Ms. Russo had been keeping it together since the campaign's chairman, David Bonior, had finally informed the staff of Mr. Edwards's impending withdrawal a few hours before his speech yesterday. "I'm a basket of emotions," she said. "Campaigns are like families. It hit everybody at different moments this morning." Russo still had a job to do; she was still talking to bloggers on the phone and trying to get them the video of Mr. Edwards's exit speech in New Orleans. She had no idea where she'd be going next, or when. "At least now we have time to sleep in and go see the doctors we haven't gone to in six months," she said, trying, unsuccessfully, to sound upbeat.

. . . . When a campaign ends, the candidate goes on to campaign for someone else or to the lucrative life he had before, but the staff is left to figure out the numbing logistics of leases and U-hauls and W-2 forms. Those of us who cover campaigns never write about that part of the process; we check out of hotels and turn our attention elsewhere. For the people who work on losing campaigns, moving on takes longer. For them, today is all about the grief.

Over the course of the last couple of months, I had the good fortune to correspond (and even once actually have a phone conversation!) with Tracy, and I can corroborate Bai’s assessment of her passion and dedication. I will also add that she was just damn nice. I was amazed at how, even in the midst of the busy pre-Iowa crunch, Tracy would take a chunk of time to talk with a little ol’ C-list blogger such as myself. And not just about logistics, either. Tracy talked about politics at large, and talked about the Edwards campaign with enthusiasm, yes, but also with an unexpected degree of candor.

In fact, I found all the people that I met on this campaign to be open, honest, and, to a person, nice. If, as folks say, a campaign is a reflection of its candidate, then it speaks very well of John Edwards. I am sad that I will not get to work longer with Tracy and the others on this campaign. I am sad that I will not get to work longer to make Edwards our president.


(cross-posted on capitoilette)

action alert: only a few hours left to comment on grassroots matching funds

I want to get this up, so I am just going to quote Tracy Russo:

The Edwards campaign recently asked the Federal Election Commission if those who contributed to the campaign through Act Blue could have their grassroots contributions matched through public funding.

It makes sense to us. Act Blue is at the cutting-edge of grassroots fundraising -- and these individual contributions through Act Blue are exactly the type of contributions the matching funds system is designed to encourage.

But now we've heard there is a possibility the FEC will turn its back on grassroots donors. It looks as though they are going to take the position that it's okay to raise millions of dollars from special interests and lobbyists, but the money raised in small amounts from thousands of hard working Americans who care about their country--that doesn't count. (This is due to a decades old regulation that was put in place prior to the internet being invented and credit cards being used for donations.)

The FEC will meet this coming Friday to decide whether campaigns can have individual contributions through Act Blue matched through public financing.

The FEC needs to hear your voice to understand that any decision to deny matching funds for individual contributions made through Act Blue would be a body blow to the whole concept of public funding which is intended to allow every American, regardless of how much money they have, to have a voice in our democracy.

You can help us send a clear message to the FEC by sending a message to the FEC Commissioners in advance of this week's vote.

The FEC will vote Friday on this crucial issue and must receive comments by noon on December 13th (Thursday).

Comments can be sent to FEC secretary Mary Dove (mdove@fec.gov), or, if you are pressed for time this morning, you can sign on to a letter that can be accessed through this page over at the Public Campaign Action Fund.

Thank you for your time and help.

. . .

Now, after you’ve done your commenting, if you still want to read a little more about elections, why not check out my latest post over on capitoilette.