Jim Shella: Campaigns need just a few things—mostly money

I feel like I have a new pen pal. Well, no one is picking up a pen, the medium is email. You know what I mean.

Then again, I don’t respond, so maybe pal is the wrong word, too.

What I am trying to say is, I get a lot of messages, suddenly, from one Kamala Harris. Three or four of them a day. She wants money. So, it’s more like having a kid in college once again. “Now is the best time to give,” according to my last message.

I have never given a political contribution. It’s not something journalists do. And while I’m now retired and share opinions as well as facts in this space (including my belief that Donald Trump is a dangerous candidate), I am still not comfortable with a donation.

How did I get on the Harris mailing list? I don’t know. But for you skeptics, I am also on the Trump mailing list. It’s just that he doesn’t pursue me and my wallet with the same vigor that Harris does.

I’m reminded of a call I got from my late mother years ago, I think it was 2006. She was getting mail solicitations from Hillary Clinton and wanted to know why. My mother lived in Minnesota, and Clinton was running for the U.S. Senate in New York. I told Mom that she contributed to someone or something and got her name on a mailing list that was bought by the Clinton campaign.

I think that’s how it used to work. Email addresses are much easier to acquire, but the idea is the same. Find someone who might or might not support your cause and start begging.

“Will you please donate $25 today?”

They are shameless. “Lots and lots of people have already given their $25. Now they’re counting on you to do the same.”

One of the more famous quotes in politics is attributed to Jesse Unruh, former speaker of the California Assembly, who once said, “Money is the mother’s milk of politics.”

Campaigns are built on just a few things—name identification, party label and messaging among them. In a presidential race, name ID and party labels are universally recognized by voters. It comes down to messaging, and the message gets out through television, and that takes money.

“All it takes is a few bucks, so what do you say?” The pitch comes from what appears to be a variety of sources: The Harris Campaign, Team Harris/Walz, Tim Walz, Kamala Harris, even Michelle Obama. But the pitch is consistent: “Kamala Harris cannot make history and keep America moving forward without you.”

I saw the other day where Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker promised to donate millions to the Harris campaign. It could prompt you to ask why she needs my $25. But then I saw a campaign surrogate on TV boasting about the number of first-time and small donors who have contributed. It always comes back to the political message.

“The sooner you give, the further your dollars will go,” and so the emails keep arriving. One asked for just $3, another $5. One offered me a chance to enter a drawing to meet Harris in person.

“According to our records, you haven’t had a chance to give … yet.”

Maybe a donation will stop the emails from coming. What do you think?•

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Shella hosted WFYI’s “Indiana Week in Review” for 25 years and covered Indiana politics for WISH-TV for more than three decades. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.

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