A singing campaign? In the wake of Sen. Rand Paul's announcement yesterday that he's running for president, many of his supporters hosted a different kind of campaign kick-off event.
Youthful supporters in cities around the country celebrated Paul's jump into the 2016 race by hosting karaoke events. Paul himself even made an appearance at one of the events, flying up to New Hampshire after his initial announcement to share a song with supporters in the crucial primary state.
In a statement to MRCTV, Matthew Hurtt, an organizer for the Arlington event, said at his last count there were over 1,000 RSVP's, in around 63 cities, in over 38 states. According to Hurtt, planning was done "in a two-and-half week span" and that many of the events developed "organically."
Paul has raised almost a million dollars within the first 24 hours of his announcement. While Hurtt couldn't put a dollar amount on how much money they had raised through the karaoke events (they were free of charge, with attendees encouraged to donate what they could), he feels their success was in promoting the message developing around Paul's campaign.
"What I think is important though is that the narrative from the coverage so far has been -- rather than big money in politics -- young people giving small-dollar donations to a campaign and having fun in the process," said Hurtt.
"If politicians want our attention, they have to go where we are. I think Rand attending the Manchester event is proof that he's interested in engaging young voters," Hurtt added.
Peter Ildefonso, an attendee at the Arlington gathering last night, feels that the karaoke events bucked the typical political fundraising trend in favor of something more fun.
"When the phrase 'political fundraiser' is used, what is envisioned by most are boring and expensive events with the rich and proper. While that is fine for many, the Facebook generation is totally unengaged. For the last year the #LibertyKaraoke regulars (activists, politicos, and young professionals) have decided to change that vision," he said.
Editors note: Peter Ildefonso and the author of this piece were previously colleagues.