Obama Raises $55 Million in February. Whew!

Ed note: In last week’s edition of his snarky e-letter, Business Common Sense, direct-mail pundit Denny Hatch weighed in on the online political fundraising. This article is excerpted from that; to read the whole article, click here.

The campaigns of Hillary Clinton and, especially, Barack Obama have discovered the Midas touch in terms of milking political Web junkies for cash. It looks as though they will go down to the Denver Convention in late August having spent zillions to bash each other, and very possibly destroy the Democratic Party’s chance to win back the White House in what should be a slam-dunk election.

How do you raise millions and millions and millions on the Web?

See what others are doing and then steal smart.

When I first saw Clinton’s 30-second ringing phone commercial, red flags started waving in what Ernest Hemingway called my “built-in, shock-proof shit detector.” The pictures are of little kids asleep with a father looking in to see that all is OK. Here is the voice over:

ANNOUNCER: “It’s 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. But there’s a phone in the White House and it’s ringing. Something’s happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call … whether it’s someone who already knows the world’s leaders, knows the military — someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world. It’s 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?”

CANDIDATE: “I’m Hillary Clinton and I approved this message.”

The Gaffe Nobody Caught
For 25 seconds of the 30-second spot, the phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing — for a total of six rings. My immediate reaction: “Holy smoke! Something terrible is happening in the world and the White House operator is asleep at the switchboard! This is nuts!”