John Edwards: $7 Million Dollars In One Day - Make It Happen

Following is an excerpt from KingOneEye's excellent diary at the DailyKos

Please share this with all your John Edwards friends!

To read the whole diary (which I highly recommend, go to:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/13/171722/549
Money is one of the key validators that establishment media recognize. It is an extension of their fixation on the primacy of wealth in this materialistic culture. It is the reason that corporations are favored by most political operators and institutions. And it is the reason that these corporate-dominated media companies are marginalizing Edwards in the first place. As more than one pundit has put it, Edwards is their worst enemy.

Ron Paul has managed to stir up respectable levels of exposure despite his low standings in most polls. After being excluded from a Fox News-sponsored debate in New Hampshire, he has now been invited to participate in a Fox debate in South Carolina. That reversal on the part of Fox didn't occur due to some crisis of conscience. It occurred partly because Paul's supporters were pissed and they let it be known, and partly because Paul had validated himself in terms the media can understand - fund raising. Having drawn in a record $6 million dollars in one day went a long ways toward forcing the press to pay attention. What I want to know is this: If Paul can do it, why can't Edwards?

Edwards has far more support than Paul and he ought to be able to mobilize his supporters to attempt to set a new fund raising record. I don't know if Edwards has anything like this in mind but there is no reason his supporters can't embark on this on their own.

So I propose that we do so. I would like to suggest Friday, January 18, as the day to shatter both the record and the media's tinted glass ceiling on coverage. This would give us all five days to publicize the effort. If successful, it should generate some press in time for the Sunday papers and news programs. Then on Monday, there is the debate in South Carolina, where Edwards could promote the results. This would then be followed by the primary on Saturday which, hopefully, would benefit from the newly enhanced press attention.

If we believe that the media is unfairly slanting coverage, it is up to us to do something about it. We must not let them make our decisions for us. By thrusting Edwards' visibility forward with financial support that makes the press do a double take, we are effectively slapping the collective faces of the reporters who think they know what they're talking about; of the pundits who think they know what's best; of the blowhards like Bill O'Reilly who dismissively wave off our candidates as phonies and losers.

On Friday, January 18, go to the donation page at JohnEdwards.com and make a donation for whatever you can afford. Personally, I think Clinton and Obama supporters should do this as well in order to stick it to the media. I'm sure they will consider that a disingenuous ploy to squeeze money out of them, but it isn't. I am completely serious when I say that the press is out there to do us harm. It may be Edwards now, but it will be your candidate later. So this opportunity to spank them is worth embracing.

$7 million dollars is a lot of money to raise online, and 5 days is not a lot of time to organize. But if Ron Paul can do it, fer gawd's sake, we ought to be able to.

Again, the link to donate on FRIDAY, JANUARY 18 is:
https://www.johnedwards.com/action/contribute/form/