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The invitations went out two weeks ago, with an enticing offer for those who could shell out anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000: a private reception with Joe Biden and one of his former rivals who now occupies speculative-running-mate status, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
Plunk down a four- to five-figure donation and out comes the coronavirus-ravaged equivalent of an event address: a Zoom link.
With candidates and donors largely restricted to their residences because of the pandemic, the traditional in-person fund-raiser — often held in swanky confines and offering the opportunity to brush shoulders with the moneyed elite and a future governor, senator or president — has had to go fully digital.
Mostly, that means some pretty profitable Zoom calls.
On Tuesday night, the Biden campaign fund-raiser featuring Ms. Klobuchar raised at least $1.5 million — the most successful single virtual fund-raiser of the campaign so far, according to previous pool reports — all from the comfort of attendees’ homes.
Mr. Biden, who doesn’t have the small-dollar fund-raising prowess of Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont or Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, often relied on traditional, large-dollar fund-raisers throughout the Democratic primary race to power his presidential campaign. Now, his campaign’s fund-raisers are among the most prolific Zoom fund-raisers.
According to campaign pool reports, Mr. Biden, the former vice president, has hosted at least 20 virtual fund-raisers since the beginning of March. His wife, Jill Biden, has attended a half-dozen.
Some of the trappings of a traditional in-person fund-raiser remain. There is often a pre-event “greet” for the high-dollar donors, which is now just a smaller and more exclusive Zoom call.
Top officials from the Biden campaign still offer updates on the state of the race. A fund-raiser on Friday with more than 2,200 people raised $1 million, said Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, Mr. Biden’s campaign manager. She added that the campaign’s email list had doubled in the past month. She also said that she was “bullish” on the campaign’s chances of flipping Arizona in November.
Mr. Biden can often rely on the gravitas of being the presumptive Democratic nominee for president to attract a digital audience; he also has help from some popular political friends like former President Barack Obama, Ms. Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, another former rival. Other down-ballot candidates, however, have started to be creative to try to bring donors to their Zoom parties.
Tonight, Michael Blake, a candidate running for Congress in New York, is hosting a Cinco de Mayo happy hour and fund-raiser. “Make a margarita, create a cocktail or bring a beverage of your choice!” the invitation reads.
Some virtual Biden fund-raisers have been decidedly more eventful. One event in late April, billed as “A Fabulous Evening with Vice President Joe Biden,” kicked off with an introduction by the actor Billy Porter. It also featured surprise performances by the singer Melissa Etheridge (initially hidden behind a “Zoom curtain”) and Kristin Chenoweth, the Tony Award-winning performer. And Billie Jean King, the tennis legend, appeared in front of a wall of trophies.
That event, which raised $1.1 million, closed with Ms. Chenoweth, who sang a Biden-themed rendition of “Popular” from the musical “Wicked.”
Below is a sampling of the lyrics:
So I come here from Oz, yes Joe, I’ve come here all this way because
I sense in you a leader who will lead
So please pay heed and you’ll succeed
Cause. You’ll. Be. Popular. I’ll help you be popular.
I’ll teach you some proper jokes, how to glad-hand folks, help to give your step some bounce
I’ll tell you what ties to wear, maybe dye your hair? Everything that really counts to be
Popular. You’re gonna be popular.
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Ad of the week: Republicans against Trump
It was among the most iconic political ads in history, when former President Ronald Reagan declared it was “Morning in America” during his 1984 re-election campaign. The ad depicted Americans across the country heading to work as the sun rose over picket-fenced suburbs and farms, with a stoic narrator listing economic accomplishments of Mr. Reagan’s first four years as president.
On Tuesday, the Lincoln Project, a super PAC supported by Republicans who are critical of Mr. Trump, released a new ad, “Mourning in America,” that depicts a broken country with shuttered factories, abandoned homes and tens of thousands of deaths from the coronavirus outbreak. A somber narrator ticks off the economic and public health devastation of the coronavirus, “a deadly virus Donald Trump ignored.”
The message: Though it focuses heavily on the pandemic, with scenes of patients in gurneys and people wearing blue masks while standing in lines that are blocks long, the central gist of the ad is an economic message, and one that loosely echoes that of Mr. Reagan’s memorable ad.
The narrator assails Mr. Trump’s signature achievement — the new federal tax law — as a bailout for Wall Street, not Main Street. At a similar moment in Mr. Reagan’s ad, the narrator is heard boasting of low interest rates.
Both ads depict a scene that begins with the words “this afternoon.” In Mr. Reagan’s ad, it’s celebrating 6,500 new marriages. In the Lincoln Project ad, it’s millions of Americans applying for unemployment benefits.
The takeaway: The ad, which debuted nationally on MSNBC Tuesday morning, instantly drew the ire of Mr. Trump. On Twitter, the president attacked most of the prominent members of the group, labeling them “losers” for their various unsuccessful past campaigns.
But the president’s tirade also brought outsize attention to the ad, which as of today has only about $100,000 supporting it, according to Advertising Analytics, an ad tracking firm. Now, the ad has 5.6 million views on Twitter, and many major news outlets, including CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, all covered the president’s response to it.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
