Tom Steyers Impeachment Crusade Is Building Him a Political Death Star [View all]

[babylonsister]

Tom Steyer’s Impeachment Crusade Is Building Him a Political Death Star
The California billionaire’s quixotic effort to unseat Trump could lay the groundwork for his own White House run, operatives say.
Lachlan Markay
Sam Stein
03.29.18 4:57 AM ET


Ask a professional Democrat for his or her opinion on billionaire political donor Tom Steyer, and the answer you often get is a variation of the following: Why would someone with so much money spend it all on a fruitless attempt to impeach Donald Trump?

Press them for their thoughts in private, however, and many concede that the man funding a $40 million campaign to get rid of the current president is not just a gifted self-promoter, but is, in fact, building one of the true powerhouse entities within the Democratic ecosystem. Steyer is poised to play a massive role in the midterms and pull the party in the direction of his choosing. He’s also set himself up incredibly well—perhaps better than any other potential aspirant—for a serious presidential bid in 2020.

“If I were a rich person and I wanted to run for president,” said one top Democratic strategist, “I would be doing exactly what he’s doing.”

What Steyer is doing is acquiring the equivalent of prime political real estate. Through his self-funded Need to Impeach campaign, he has now built an email list of more than 5.1 million members, a total that one former presidential campaign manager called “staggering” and a top digital adviser called “one of the biggest Democratic lists out there.”

Perhaps even more remarkable is how Steyer came about doing it. Kevin Mack, the lead strategist on the impeachment campaign, said the first million members signed up in just six days. He added that open rates remain high—“probably at least double the industry standard”—allowing them to take two to three campaign actions at a given time. Approximately 1,975,000 of those on the list are identified as infrequent midterm voters.

“They care more about digital than the DCCC and the DNC,” said one of the party’s top digital strategists.

As formidable as Steyer’s data operation is, there may still be room to grow. The group has only spent one-third of its budget on digital and, according to Mack, its typical email list member is an elderly woman—a reflection of the cable-heavy ad focus but also an indication that a younger, internet savvy demographic is still there for the taking.

more...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/tom-steyers-impeachment-crusade-is-building-him-a-political-death-star?ref=home