David Boling: Chasing Money

David Boling, who ran for the 2010 Democratic nomination for Arkansas’ Second Congressional District, pens a guest-editorial in The Washington Post.  Boling is vice president of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and is writing a book about how it feels to be a first-time candidate.

The op-ed is titled, “The ability to raise money has become a politician’s greatest qualification for office.”  Here’s an outtake:

I was sitting at my desk, ready to start my new job, when my boss walked into my office and put a monkey carved from wood on my desk. The monkey was holding a phone against its ear. “Congratulations, you are now a phone monkey — start making those telephone calls for money,” she barked cheerfully.

What was my new job?  Telemarketer?  Cold-call salesman?  No, I was a political candidate.  Just a few days before, I had launched my political candidacy in the Democratic primary in Arkansas for U.S. Congress. And my boss?  She was my campaign consultant.

Four years ago, my campaign ended when I finished third of five candidates in the Democratic primary — but I had fun and learned a lot, especially about the role of money in politics.

I still have that wooden monkey in my office to remind me that candidates for Congress must spend a huge proportion of their time calling folks to ask for money.

During my run, I spent 70 to 80 percent of my time on the phone asking people for money. On one day, I made about 90 calls. But my campaign staff was constantly pushing me to make even more. In their view, my phone calls were too long —they wanted me to limit each one to just a couple of minutes. Usually I would talk for more than 10 minutes, trying to connect personally with the potential donor but eating up precious time that I could have used to call others.

Read more here of Boling’s experiences and a conclusion he draws from his 2010 campaign.