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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA.O.C.'s Digital Juggernaut
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/us/politics/aoc-facebook-ads.htmlA.O.C.s Digital Juggernaut
The congresswoman is vastly outspending her fellow House members, and even most senators, online.
By Nick Corasaniti
June 23, 2020
And immense cash. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has raised more than $10.3 million over the past two years, millions of which she has deployed aggressively online, far outpacing her fellow House members.
Since the beginning of this election cycle in 2019, shes spent $3.6 million on Facebook ads, including nearly $2.4 million since January, according to her campaign. The next biggest digital advertiser among House members in 2020 is Representative Adam Schiff of California, who spent $620,000 online, according to the tracking firm Advertising Analytics.
Indeed, Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs online spending has outpaced those of most Senate campaigns this cycle, including well-funded candidates like Mark Kelly in Arizona, Sara Gideon in Maine and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
As New York holds its congressional primary elections today, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is facing a well-financed challenger in Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, a former CNBC anchor, who lent her own campaign $1 million recently, though she has spent only about $177,000 online. Though Ms. Ocasio-Cortez remains popular, there has been scant public polling on the race, and her spending is a sign that she is taking the challenge from Ms. Caruso-Cabrera seriously.
DenverJared
(457 posts)but then bash Wall Street at every opportunity.
There is another politician who does that and has a loyal base which overlooks such obvious red flags only because they like the "message."
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has also gone on the attack, spending $65,000 on a television ad criticizing Ms. Caruso-Cabrera, calling her a former Republican who isnt one of us. She has similar ads on Facebook in English and Spanish.
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)Her opponent was funded by Wall Street. AOC is funded by donors like me.
DenverJared
(457 posts)RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)I've donated money to seven Democratic candidates this year (none of them AOC) who don't live anywhere near me. Is that problematic for you? I know they need it to fight off Bitch and the Kochsucker PACS.
R B Garr
(16,919 posts)$10,000,000 works out to be about $364,000 per vote -- in a very blue district. Wow!
Tom Rinaldo
(22,911 posts)Some think it is good, others not, but AOC has a national rather than a predominately local profile only. When a combination of ability and/or circumstances allow it, many political figures rise to national prominence, and they do so knowingly and they do so consciously. Stacy Abrams comes to mind as another recent example. She has never been directly elected to any office beyond that of a State Representative, yet she is widely acknowledged as a rising star in the national Democratic Party. And Stacy uses her high profile both effectively and frequently.
AOC is reported to have spent that much money on media in 24 months. The vast majority of it was not used to win votes in yesterday's primary. A legitimate argument could be (and was) made that AOC has not given enough of her attention to matters specifically inside of her own district since she was elected in 2018. That could even be used as a basis to contest her seat in a district primary and, ummm, it was. And AOC was renominated by her constituents against a well funded opponent by an overwhelming landslide. So much for that argument.
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)Both concerns of her constituents & being a leader of progressives. It is difficult to make both happy especially with YouTube bomb throwers on the progressive side and they have turned on AOC at times.
I do think it would be a legitimate argument to challenge her on that but not with a candidate who moved out of Trump Tower to run against her.
Locrian
(4,522 posts)the wishes of her (many) constituents when she's not beholden to (few) large donors
R B Garr
(16,919 posts)Revolution, which has since been kind of quashed by voters, except for some sporadic districts here and there. At least I remember her being on TV a lot after her 2018 win when the Revolution was still a thing. The Revolution has largely been quieted by the massive Biden wins, which show the electorate wants a more traditional, trusted candidate -- trusted meaning a known quantity at this point.
That's why I was drawing a perspective with the actual votes she received from her district. When you see that 27,460 people are a "landslide" -- compared to a national presence -- it brings some perspective to what it takes.
tonedevil
(3,022 posts)about somebody.
R B Garr
(16,919 posts)the Biden gaffes. Looks like you got that wrong, too.
tonedevil
(3,022 posts)R B Garr
(16,919 posts)for a week. All over one debate exchange that I understood but you didnt. LOL indeed.
tonedevil
(3,022 posts)I throw back my head and laugh at the whining over AOC. Your tears even though salty still taste sweet. You should find a new venue to back your new hero, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera.
R B Garr
(16,919 posts)Biden gaffe kerfuffle you tried to inflame. You do like your little kerfuffles.
tonedevil
(3,022 posts)the little kerfuffle. I'm glad I can live in your head rent free I don't nurse the wound of whatever we tangled over as you apparently do. Although it is true I generally dislike your comments.
R B Garr
(16,919 posts)following me. Your post is riddled with contradictions. Awww.
tonedevil
(3,022 posts)I will be signing off here sorry, not sorry, I made you so mad and don't remember why.
R B Garr
(16,919 posts)You should put me on ignore. You just said you dont like my comments, so obviously you remember.
tonedevil
(3,022 posts)R B Garr
(16,919 posts)youre not amused. Time to move on, bye now.
tonedevil
(3,022 posts)I think I disagree with all of your opinions and find much that you write objectionable, but your stridency makes it hilarious. I'll keep laughing at you as long as you are so unintentionally funny. Thanks for the chuckles.
R B Garr
(16,919 posts)Everything you wrote just contradicted the previous posts. I bet youre not laughing at all.
Thanks for admitting your obsession, though. Its very obvious.
tonedevil
(3,022 posts)someone's mind from blog posts. That bullshit is why I laugh at you. I know nothing about you, but the strident idocy of your posts makes them fascinating. Please keep telling me what I think I and what I'm doing. Put in some braindead emojis from the 1990s to make it really sing.
R B Garr
(16,919 posts)for a week with contradictory, passive-aggressive personal attacks, it's quite clear who has the problem.
This is Day 1, only an hour in, (9:29 was your first post), and this is what you are resorting to. Last time, it was a week of this and you got angrier as you went along.
RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)Oh, that's right. Lee does what Wall Street tells him. MCC likes that.
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)Celerity
(42,640 posts)Alex4Martinez
(2,180 posts)She has a lot of people worried, I love to see that.
May she live long and serve many years in higher and higher roles.
She represents the best of us.
malaise
(267,797 posts)She will go far - love her
BComplex
(7,977 posts)I can't thank her enough.
Nature Man
(869 posts)GO AOC GO!
Voltaire2
(12,610 posts)R B Garr
(16,919 posts)That will be an interesting development.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)BComplex
(7,977 posts)She got her comeuppance in the primary. AOC is extremely popular, not just in her district, but all over. Of course, conservatives of both parties hate her.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)Link to tweet
? Why do republicans hate her? let me count the reasons 1,2,3...
sop
(9,945 posts)Congressional district in NY. She's smart, talented, well-prepared and a force to be reckoned with.
Whether or not people like it (including many here at DU apparently), AOC is going to play an important role in the Democratic Party for years to come.
R B Garr
(16,919 posts)sop
(9,945 posts)NY's 14th Congressional District is 51% Hispanic, median age is 36.9 and voters there apparently support Ocasio-Cortez. She might not win a Democratic primary by a landslide in most congressional districts, but Ocasio-Cortez doesn't represent other districts, only her own.
http://censusreporter.org/profiles/50000US3614-congressional-district-14-ny/
R B Garr
(16,919 posts)make a "landslide".
RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)I mean, is this how far you're going to reach to dismiss her?
Nature Man
(869 posts)why does it gall you that AOC won?
Javaman
(62,439 posts)I'm an oldster and I have been waiting for someone like her for a very long time.
She is fucking awesome.
The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)One suspects she has her eye on a Senate seat a few years down the road.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)It does not bother me. Cenk and the 'jay-dees' are pretty small potatoes when all is said and done. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has the X-factor in dazzling quantities, few will take some disreputable associations early in the game too seriously. I do not always agree with her but I certainly support her (and definitely do over the 'galvanized Reaganite' who opposed her in the primary. She is a model for how politics has to be done nowadays, particularly from the left. A little seasoning, to get a sound sense of what is possible without letting go of the aspirational and the inspirational, is all she needs.
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)Not sure what the problem is with Cenk Uyger. He is progressive during the primaries and blue no matter who during the general election.
I don't think they are anti Democratic Party. They want the party to be better than it is. We can always do better.
Sympthsical
(8,928 posts)She is the Democratic nominee. I thought we dont bash those.
Unless theres a double standard for progressives.
I understand the salt is real for ostensible liberals who somehow live to bash the Left for some reason, but its over. All the BS about how disliked she is by her constituents has been proven for the shallow wishful thinking by those who hate her.
I think its enough now.
This constant criticism of her wouldnt fly if it were directed at Biden.
The anti-Left Democrats are going to have to get over this one. Today, with her victory, would be a good start.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)Sympthsical
(8,928 posts)tonedevil
(3,022 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)tonedevil
(3,022 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)R B Garr
(16,919 posts)wins over Bernie. The bashing of Democrats needs to stop. Such great points.
Sympthsical
(8,928 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)-- Yes, absolutely.
-- I agree.
-- You're correct.
-- Very observant of you!
(I'll let you mix-and-match.)
Alex4Martinez
(2,180 posts)She's super smart and on our side of every issue.
Senate and then POTUS would be very well deserved.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)PTWB
(4,131 posts)AOC is not ready to be President, though one day she may be and will likely make a fine one.
Im hoping Joe picks Kamala and passes the torch to her in 4 years.
RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)Fuck Wall Street. Fuck the alt right. Maybe next time they can run Maria Bartwhatsername herself instead of the knockoff brand.
Hope it was a miserable night for some people.
Speaking of which.
Link to tweet
melman
(7,681 posts)Mariana
(14,847 posts)melman
(7,681 posts)Now she wins and it's OMG THE MONEY.
Celerity
(42,640 posts)manhattan123
(302 posts)Excerpt from the Washington Post: (And look at some of the names of who was backing Caruso-Cebera.)
"By one measure, Caruso-Cabrera made the race competitive, raising an impressive war chest of more than $2 million for her bid, most of it in big checks from the financiers whom Ocasio-Cortez has made a point of targeting. That haul paled in comparison to the roughly $10.5 million Ocasio-Cortez raised mostly in small donations.
Perhaps no surprise then that Caruso-Cabrera pulled in $23,850 from employees of the largest U.S. banks, including $5,600 from Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, according to Federal Election Commission records. She raised another $16,800 from six executives at private equity giant Blackstone Group, including CEO Steve Schwarzman.
And a parade of Wall Streets top investors also donated the maximum allowable to Caruso-Cabrera. They include hedge fund billionaires: Christopher Flowers; Tudor Investments Paul Tudor Jones; Paulson & Co.s John Paulson; and Trian Fund Managements Nelson Peltz and Peter May. The list goes on, as she also collected checks from Interactive Brokers founder and multibillionaire Thomas Peterffy; Crestview Partners CEO Barry Volpert; and Key Square Group founder Scott Bessent.
A number of her backers were traditionally GOP donors: TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, Elliott Management executive and former Bush administration official Dan Senor; former Bush administration economist Larry Lindsey; Home Depot founder and billionaire investor Ken Langone; billionaire Gristedes Foods CEO John Catsimatidis; and billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller. (Druckenmiller also contributed $25,000 to a super PAC called Fight for Our Communities, which spent $28,000 on digital ads and direct mail targeting Ocasio-Cortez; Caruso-Cabreras husband, Stephen Dizard, managing partner at investment firm Wood Capital Partners, was the groups top donor, contributing $30,000, per FEC records.)"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-finance-202/2020/06/24/the-finance-202-wall-street-spent-heavily-to-take-down-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-it-was-a-bad-investment/5ef286b0602ff12947e934bc/?itid=hp_politics1-8-12_finance-202-915am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans