Tech & Biz

Kansas election candidate breaks fundraising record with internet comic

by julianw | July 18, 2008 at 01:29 pm

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Barack Obama gets deserved credit for being web 2.0 savvy, but Sean Tevis, a Democratic candidate for state representative in Kansas, has taken internet fundraising to a whole other level. Tevis, who started his campaign without the backing of rich donors, knew he could only succeed by getting small donations from masses of people. He built an XKCD-style webcomic to try and appeal to bloggers, web 2.0 users, and other assorted fans of cool things on the internet. The result is so good.

Running for Office: It's Like A Flamewar with a Forum Troll, but with an Eventual Winner My name is Sean Tevis [photo]. I'm an Information Architect in Kansas running for State Representative. I’ve decided to “retire” my current State Representative. I'm going to win. This is my story (XKCD homage style) so far.

Ezra Klein's thoughts.

Sean Tevis is a candidate for state representative in Kansas. Like a lot of young candidates challenging entrenched incumbents in minor races, Tevis has a fundraising problem: He needs money. Not that much of it, but more than his parents/wife are willing to give him. So he hit on an innovative solution: Co-opt an internet cartoon with a huge and intensely devoted audience (XKCD), use its form and rhythm to tell the story of why people should donate to him, and then watch the links, and the money, roll in. This is fundraising on the extreme end of the long tail, and it's pretty cool. Also, his XKCD takeoff isn't half bad.