198 Small Donors to Go

In our fundraising efforts to attend the Democratic Convention in August, we've decided to focus on a small donor campaign. We figured out that it'll take us 240 people contributing $25 each for us to reach what we need to go to Denver and provide you with the best convention coverage in America. So far, we have the equivalent of 42 ($1050), leaving us 198 to go. Anyone reading this should be able to donate $25 to help us get there.

Go to PayPal and donate through our Florida Progressive Coalition account (quinnelk@gmail.com), or you can write a check to Florida Progressive Coalition and send it to me:

Kenneth Quinnell
3328 Whirlaway Trail
Tallahassee, FL 32309

You can also inquire about advertising by sending me an e-mail. FPC is a media entity set up as an LLC, so we don't fall under campaign finance laws and contributions are not tax-deductible. But they do go to a good cause.

If we don't get the 198 donations we still need, someone will have to stay home and miss the convention. That shouldn't happen, as there's no need for your $25 to prevent someone from going, so give as soon and as often as you can.

We'll also publicly thank all of the donors, so let us know if you wish to remain anonymous or pseudonymous. Our first two contributions came from:

Roz/Don Moffett
Alison Berke Morano
Rick Spisak
Susan Smith
James Henry
Mark Glickman
Candace Palmer
Mr. & Ms. Hope
Alan Farago
Ray Seaman
Lori Poole
Annette Odom
N. Todd Pritsky & Ericka
Mike
Maria Szabo

Here's the full pitch:

As you may already know, Florida Progressive Coalition has been selected as Florida's official blogger representative at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. We take this as an honor that we will do our best to live up to. We can't do it alone, though, we need your help. Before I ask for that, though, let me tell you what we'll be bringing you. The official schedule for the convention hasn't been set yet, but I attended the convention in 2004 and there has been some info released about what will happen. And now that the news networks are declaring that the convention is a "non-news event" you won't know much about what happens in Denver. Or if you read the extensive coverage that Florida Progressive Coalition will bring you.

We're sending a delegation of eight people to Denver (we'll start introducing them to you via the blog and radio show over the next few weeks). While the group isn't quite as diverse as we'd like, it is more diverse than many other state blog delegations. We're one of the few groups that will be bringing an African-American. We also have three people under 25 in attendance and a few who are old enough to not want their ages mentioned here. We have more men than women, but we have more women that most states. We have North, Central and South Florida covered. We have people from urban and from rural counties. We have experienced bloggers and newbies. And unlike the process in some other states, we opened our delegation up to anyone who requested it and could make the trip. We'll also be working with a few other bloggers or blogger-friendly people who are delegates or will otherwise be attending the convention.

So what does that mean? That we have a virtual army of people to cover the convention. We can spread out our people at as many of the events possible and provide you the broadest and most in-depth coverage of the convention anywhere. Florida Progressive Coalition has done a lot of liveblogging in the past, so we have several experienced people who will do that during the more notable events and speeches. We'll also send our members to the various committee meetings, including the Credentials Committee, which will decide the final fate of the voting power of the Florida delegation. We'll blog that one live and you'll probably here the outcome from us before you hear it from anyone else in the world.

We'll bring you coverage of the Florida delegation breakfast meeting, which will be loaded with speakers. Because of Florida's stature as a swing state, we attract many high profile people. In addition to the best of the best of Florida politicians, we'll get top members of Congress, the Obama team and elsewhere in politics. In Boston in 2004, the delegate breakfasts featured guests like Bob Graham, Michael Moore, Elizabeth Edwards and Max Cleland, amongst many others.

We'll bring you live coverage of the many training sessions that will go on during the convention as well as constituency caucus meetings. We'll bring you coverage of the debate and discussion on the party's national platform. We'll bring you wall-to-wall coverage of speeches and events from the floor of the convention. We'll bring you coverage of Barack Obama's historic acceptance speech at mile high stadium.

But we'll go beyond simple the high profile events. We'll introduce you to the delegates from Florida with personal profiles. We'll do live radio shows from Denver and try to get some guests we might not normally get. We'll report from the multitude of unofficial events surrounding the convention, such as the things that happen in the bloggers' Big Tent. We'll give you a nightly group round-up of what were the best and worst things we saw that day and we'll bring you a taste of the parties and other social events as well.

So that's what you'll get. How will we get it to you? Through your contributions. We need to raise $6000 to cover the costs of the trip. Are whole delegation will be raising the money and we'll do it through advertising sales, sponsorships and through small donations. Go to PayPal and donate through our Florida Progressive Coalition account (quinnelk@gmail.com), or you can write a check to Florida Progressive Coalition and send it to me:

Kenneth Quinnell
3328 Whirlaway Trail
Tallahassee, FL 32309

You can also inquire about advertising by sending me an e-mail. FPC is a media entity set up as an LLC, so we don't fall under campaign finance laws and contributions are not tax-deductible. But they do go to a good cause. You'll help pay for the most meaningful political experience of several people's young lives, you'll be training the next generation of Florida leaders and you'll pay helping us provide the best coverage of the convention in the entire country.

No donation is too small. Six $1000 contributions work out to be the same as 6000 $1 contributions. I'm sure you can do something in between.