President asks for $3 donation with enticement of dinner and phone calls; Campaign still hasn't released names of first dinner contest winners...In a fundraising e-mail he sent today to supporters, President Obama sounds a bit like a pal who is plenty of fun but who routinely ditches out on social formalities; he promises that he might call or he might have dinner with some lucky donors. The President's e-mail, like all of those sent from campaign HQ, was signed "Barack," and he refers to the Dinner with Barack II sweepstakes, a campaign fundraiser that's offering four people the chance to dine with the Eater in Chief.
"I'll be calling some grassroots donors like you by phone this week, so I can say thank you," Barack wrote. "And if I don't call you, there's a chance I'll see you at dinner with three other supporters sometime soon."
The President's ask is just $3, in an effort to re-engage the legions of small-dollar donors who were crucial to loading campaign coffers in 2008. Obama for America is scrambling to get a million donations by Sept. 30, the deadline for third quarter finance reporting. All donors are now automatically entered in the "Dinner with Barack II" sweepstakes, and today's e-mail comes as the President ends a three-day western fundraising swing, which included a celeb-laden dinner for $17,900/plate in West Hollywood on Monday. Popstar Lady Gaga dropped $35,800 for a Presidential dinner on Sunday.
The "Dinner with Barack II" sweepstakes is the second time the Campaign has raffled off the President as a dining companion, and it is being aggressively promoted by e-mail, on Facebook and Twitter, with the hashtag #DinnerWithBarack. Dinner with supporters will be "a regular thing," President Obama promised in a Sept. 14 e-mail. Despite such promises, the Campaign still hasn't announced the names of the four winners for the first dinner, July's "Dinner with Barack and Joe" sweepstakes. In early September, OFA Deputy Press Secretary Katie Hogan told Obama Foodorama that she has no idea why the names of the dinner winners have not been announced.
"We don't have a date or location for either dinner," Hogan also told Obama Foodorama.
The text of today's e-mail from Barack:
Friend --
I enjoy talking about fundraising deadlines as much as I imagine you enjoy hearing about them.
But this Friday's deadline is important.
It's a chance for us to prove how we're different from any campaign in politics: We rely on ordinary Americans giving what they can -- one grassroots donation at a time.
This is not just a campaign. It's a chance for each of us as citizens to organize and change the course of history.
And before we close the books this Friday at midnight, I hope you'll become a part of it.
Please donate $3 or more today.
I'll be calling some grassroots donors like you by phone this week, so I can say thank you.
And if I don't call you, there's a chance I'll see you at dinner with three other supporters sometime soon.
Even if I don't get to thank you personally, every single donation counts:
https://donate.barackobama.com/Friday-Deadline
Thanks for doing your part,
Barack
##
The value of the dinner prize ...
The prize packages for both dinners includes a round-trip coach-class air fare and one night's hotel stay at "the Destination" of the dinner for each winner. For Dinner I, the total cash value is $1075, with the "approximate retail value" of dinner with the President pegged at $100, airfare at $700, and the hotel stay at $275. Dinner II is pricier, at $1,150. As noted above, the "approximate retail value" for dinner with the President has doubled in value, from $100 to $200. The air fare has also gone up to $800, while the hotel stay is worth less, and valued at $150.
No donation to the campaign is required to be entered in the dinner sweepstakes, according to the Official Rules.
*The Campaign on Monday sent an e-mail targeting supporters who haven't donated.