Democrats plea to BFFs: Text us $$

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Btw, send $$ 2nite. Thx!

Democrats tried out some new technology at their convention on Thursday, asking supporters to send in cash via text.

President Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, a metrics-obsessed campaign technician, got the honors of the doing the asking, and he asked for donations from the podium of the Democratic National Convention.

“Every morning, the first thing I read are the numbers from the day before,” Messina told the crowd. “Not poll numbers or money. The numbers that mean something: door-knocks, conversations, registered voters.”

Messina said the campaign has registered 1 million new voters and that its “grassroots army” has contacted millions of voters. He asked supporters to register, volunteer, and send a text donation “right now.”

The Federal Election Commission only first approved text donations last month. The Obama campaign was eager to get the green light before this week’s convention, an occasion campaign officials thought would prove lucrative. The Obama campaign immediately unveiled a program, saying they believed in would boost small contributions. (https://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-text-message-donation-20120823,0,975116.story)

Donations via text would be capped at $50 a month per political committee and $200 an election -- the most an individual can give anonymously.

“Take out your phones,” Messina instructed.

@khennessey
kathleen.hennessey@latimes.com