Bernie & Hillary: Dealing with Silicon Valley's Liberal Big Donors

[KoKo]

A Good Read...that focuses more on pointing out the differing Campaign Strategy of Sanders and Clinton without attacking either candidate.

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The progressive contender has decided not to court California’s big money liberals, despite their willingness to play ball.

By Gabriel Debenedetti --11/09/15 05:17 AM EST

SAN FRANCISCO — Silicon Valley's tech titans know they are an ATM for the Democratic Party's politicians. They're just not sure if Bernie Sanders knows it, too.

While Hillary Clinton makes Northern California a regular stop in her incessant dash for cash, her challenger isn't even trying to woo the Valley's wealthy, liberal magnates. Sanders has visited the region just once since launching his campaign, and not to raise money, while Clinton has made three fundraising trips here. And his team is doing little to reach potential donors, even the progressives among them, according to Democratic fundraisers.
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Sanders' refusal to engage in big money politics provides a striking contrast to Clinton. Northern California trails only Washington and New York, and arguably Southern California, as a campaign cash target for her campaign. And its huge financial role was underscored last week by a 900-person, hour-and-a-half gathering headlined by Clinton at a manor deep in Silicon Valley on Wednesday afternoon and a 290-person event at a Napa winery on Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, the Vermonter's lack of interest in the region's cash is a phenomenon that jibes with his campaign's singular focus on Iowa and New Hampshire this fall. But by not sending emissaries — and not even stopping by the San Francisco area for one of his signature megarallies — the insurgent Vermont senator is missing out on potentially millions of dollars.

"I heard nothing from him or his people" before or after he announced his campaign, said another top Silicon Valley fundraiser who aligned with Obama in 2008 and eventually joined the Clinton team. Some pockets of Northern California would be natural ideological fits for Sanders, the fundraiser mused — if only he took the time to court them.

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While Sanders' campaign leaders briefly debated whether to duke it out with Clinton over San Francisco-area donors, their decision to forfeit the territory reflects both Clinton's institutional strength in the region and a determination that fundraising in the Bay Area would force Sanders to sit down for traditional campaign cash events.

"Bernie Sanders just doesn't do that, whether it's West Coast, New York, Florida, Seattle, Texas, Chicago. Any of the places where Democrats raise significant money individually," added another top Sanders strategist. "Our campaign is done on contributors doing 30 bucks a pop. So we just don't do it."

That's not to say that Sanders is a nonentity in the region: His quarterly fundraising filings show nontrivial support from rank-and-file tech workers in the area, and he even has backing from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. He's also visited Southern California multiple times, and he held one of his biggest rallies in Los Angeles. An October Field poll even showed him trailing Clinton by just 9 points in the state.

Much More ....Good read about both Clinton and Sanders at....

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/bernie-sanders-silicon-valley-fundraising-215619