The Gantt Report
By Lucius Gantt
America’s Democratic Party “bosses” will not like this Gantt Report column. If you know me, you know I don’t write columns for readers to like. I try to write the truth whether political parties like it or not!
In that regard, I want to opine on “Kamala Cash”.
As always, politics and money are parallel. Wherever there is money, politicians will seek to allocate it, regulate it, donate it, or spend it. Where there are politicians, donors, and contributors give campaign dollars to candidates they endorse, favor, or want specified political votes or governmental contracts and opportunities.
The Democratic Party nominee for President, Vice President Kamala Harris, has set fundraising records for money her campaign has received in recent days and weeks.
Significant amounts of money were donated to the Harris Campaign by Black women and Black men. Harris also was the beneficiary of contributions from Hispanics, Asians, and other people of color, along with donations from white women and white men.
I congratulate Vice President Harris on her early and earned campaign success.
Friends and acquaintances have been contacting me asking what they can do to help make Kamala Harris the first female President in United States history.
I say you can do what she asks you to do, donate money, knock on doors, make calls, and send texts to everyone you can.
That is the same request Donald Trump is making to his white nationalist, supremacist, and insurrectionist supporters.
To beat the Trump effort to win the hearts, minds, and votes of Americans, the Harris Campaign must have “better” campaign efforts and strategies.
As you know, anybody can tell you to knock on a door and everywhere Kamala goes someone will tell her that they can generate votes and influence voters.
I say whatever the Harris Campaign decides to do to break records in votes generated and voter turnouts, her GOTV effort must be done correctly and effectively.
Let me explain. Some of the same political professionals who advised Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, are seeking to advise Kamala.
Most of the highly paid Democratic consultants suggest that candidates should spend most campaign money on television advertising.
Well, ads don’t vote, registered voters vote. People vote.
Tried and true voter generation efforts and activities like rides to the polls, geo-demographic targeting of Kamala’s genuine supporters, professional sign distribution in targeted neighborhoods and voting precincts, church efforts like “soul to the polls” in cities and states that allow churches to bus congregation members to polling places after church services on Sundays are pretty much ignored by Democratic consultants who want almost every dollar to be spent on TV, sometimes at 3 AM, and, sometimes on the least watched TV shows viewed by Blacks and Hispanics, for instance.
All Blacks who want Kamala to win are told to volunteer. Some politicos say Black professionals are professionally inferior and cannot make sound political strategic or political purchasing decisions.
I’m not going to get into that.
In conclusion, what I will talk about is “earmarks”.
A political earmark occurs when a campaign contributor earmarks, or designates, political financial contributions for a particular, or specified purpose.
An example of an” earmark” could be when unions donate money and tell candidates all their printing, signs, brochures, bumper stickers, stationary, etc., must be printed by union printers.
OK, I get it.
So-called leaders of Black organizations can earmark their donations too. If your business group, sorority, fraternity, community organization, or church denomination raises and donates millions to a political campaign, you can say I want a respectable amount of our donations to go to Black businesses and Black political professionals.
I hope Kamala Harris continues to break Presidential fundraising records and, I hope some Kamala Cash is spent with business owners that look like she does.
