Dems to start campaign fundraising via Twitter

ActBlue, an online fundraising site for Democrats, has connected with Twitter to accept contributions for associated candidates through the popular microblogging site.

Members of ActBlue can now tweet the name, candidate, party committee, and dollar amount to the group’s official Twitter account (@actblue). The site has specified a specific format for its members to use when submitting donations.

To give using your Twitter account, tweet:

“donate $amount @candidate via @actblue“
For example, to contribute to @BarackObama, try this: “donate $5 @BarackObama via @actblue for a better future”

ActBlue co-founder Matt deBergalis wrote on the organization’s blog that “There’s no doubt that Democratic candidates have jumped into Twitter. It got to a point where we were couldn’t ignore the clamor.”

“We’re looking for a new culture of online giving, not driven solely by asks from candidates and their fundraisers, but a mesh of activity underlying each day’s online political discourse,” he added.

This type of fundraising may represent the next step in the integration of politics and social media. During the 2008 elections, Barack Obama relied on small online donations to gather a significant portion of his campaign war chest.

ActBlue’s new partnership with Twitter may allow even more individuals to provide campaign contributions to Democratic candidates.