We announced last week that we had lowered our processing fees from 4.5% to 3.95% and have implemented a direct deposit mechanism to ensure that candidates have their money as quickly as possible. 

Today we are pleased to announce two new, highly requested features that will continue to empower the Slatecard community with the tools you need to be effective.

• Go Ahead, Re-Arrange the Candidates on Your Slatecard
  

When you are logged into your personal Slatecard (http://slatecard.com/myslatecard), click on "View your Slatecard." You'll see a new option directly above your listed candidates, "Re-Arrange Slatecard." It looks like this:

 

When you click on "Re-Arrange Slatecard," you will see a display asking you to move the candidates in the order you like. When you're finished, click re-arrange and the updates will take effect immediately. This feature will re-arrange the candidates on both your Slatecard and its corresponding widget for your website. Here's the interface:

 

• Isolate One Candidate At A Time To Promote (if you want)

Several bloggers have asked us for MORE POWER and CONTROL -- like the ability to highlight one candidate at a time on their widget. In other words, if the blogger wants to write a blog post pushing a certain candidate, they want the ability to focus all the attention to that effort. Our new feature answers that request artfully.

All Slatecards have a flash-based widget that can be embedded to websites (FYI - the widget won't work in MySpace because of MySpace's silly policies). To grab the widget for your Slatecard, simply "View your Slatecard" and click on "Grab Widget Code."  

You will then see a widget interface like this:

Look above the code for the link which says "Get Widget Code for a Single Candidate." Click that and an interface will open asking you which candidate you want to isolate. Once you choose your candidate, the embeddable code below will automatically change to highlight that candidate. Grab the code, add it to your page, and get started making a difference for your candidate.

Let us know what you think of these features by emailing us: TEAM at Slatecard.com. And don't forget to send along ideas for features we should be working on. As demonstrated by our continued improvement of the platform at your request -- we listen.

A few weeks ago, the Left's ActBlue team announced on their blog that they had raised more than $50M for liberal candidates and committees since their launch four years ago. To be honest, this is quite an impressive fete and is credit to the hard work and dedication of the ActBlue community which their staff has worked hard to support. I'm willing to tip my hat in their direction and acknowledge what they've done.

However, there was one little nugget in their press release that I've been thinking about quite a bit. You see, they decided to take a little swipe at Slatecard.com, the Republican counter to ActBlue.

From their release:

ActBlue's nearest Republican counterpart, Slatecard.com, has raised $350,000 since 2007. (For comparison, ActBlue raised more than $890,000 in its first six months of operation.)

But according to this Wall Street Journal (no subscription needed) grapic, ActBlue raised $791,900 in 2004/the 2004 election cycle:

 

Let's be the better people and collectively agree that ActBlue raised somewhere between $790-$890K in the 2004 election cycle and let them clarify the inaccuracies.

Making an apples-to-apples comparison -- first election cycle to first election cycle -- could Slatecard outraise ActBlue's 2004 election cycle? Could we raise $1 million dollars by the end of this year?

I believe so and I'm hoping the Slatecard community joins us in beating ActBlue's first cycle by raising more than $1M in our first election cycle (2008).

Reaching this goal will not be easy. We are more than $600K away from breaking $1M.

TOTALS:

• $397,869.48
• 6,280 donors
• $63.36 average donation
  

So look, I'm willing to do everything in my power to help make it happen. I believe we can raise more than $1 million and beat ActBlue.

In fact, if every donor makes a $100 donation right now , we'd break their goal today.

But we're going to have to do it alone. You, me, we, us -- the Slatecard community.

We can't count on "big donors" who give hundreds of thousands of dollars and want a handshake grip picture with a candidate next to a flag. We can't count on any help from anyone.

It's up to us to make it happen.

To reach our goal, simply contribute money to any Republican candidate in our candidate directory, give money to a Cause you believe in, or make a contribution to Slatecard to keep this site up and running. If you're looking to contribute money to a Republican candidate -- do it here. Trust us, your contribution, name, address, etc. will be sent to the campaign so you'll be noted in their books as a supporter.

The time to step up to the plate and beat the Democrats at their own game is now.

We need to win this one for the team.

Will you help us select the issue badge which will best represent Barack Obama by choosing both the badge and slogan in our online poll? 

 

 

And while you're here, don't forget to make an immediate contribution of at least $25 to John McCain right now!

The Politico's MIKE ALLEN and JIM VANDEHEI piece, "Six ways the GOP can save itself," is an essential read and should serve as a roadmap for pulling the GOP out of this tailspin.

Their third nugget is worth posting in this space:

3. Beg for help: The Republican infrastructure is crumbling. Making matters worse, Democrats are erecting a pretty impressive network of donors, think tanks and activist groups that is exploiting the GOP’s structural weakness. The GOP “needs to realize what the opposition is and how formidable it is,” said former GOP leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). “The Democratic Party is organized chaos, but it is so much better than what we are doing.” It will take no less than three to five years to fix, smart Republicans estimate.

For now, Republicans need their rich backers to crack open their wallets. Democrats such as George Soros are so much more willing than rich Republicans to fund get-out-the-vote operations and clever negative campaigns. The GOP needs to somehow cajole its big donors to fork over millions of dollars to counter Democrats and then achieve a competitive edge.

It needs to be smart while spending it, too. Influential Republicans feel the party must fortify intellectual think tanks, establish new activist groups and get a clue about using the Internet to rally its forces. The GOP also needs to fund programs to train young Republican candidates and activists.

“There is an entire infrastructure that needs to be thought through, and it seems to me no one is interested in building that,” said former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.).

Without a doubt, Slatecard.com is the tool that should be immediately embraced the Republican Party.

The reasons are simple:

• We provide the lowest credit card processing fees available (and we'll likely get them lower in the future). Keeping more money in the pockets of the campaign is commonsense. No set-up fees. No monthly fees. Smarter technology.
• Honesty and Transparency remain essential ingredients to our effort.
• 47 candidates have already embraced Slatecard. Most of these candidates are challengers with a few incumbents. It's a heckuva good start.
  
• After a mere six months, we've earned our spot at the table by producing results for Republicans. Results should be welcomed by the establishment.
• Our Donor Analytics will prove extremely valuable to candidates who care about better targeting a message to their supporters.
• We're backing McCain - with $25 donations at a time - we are helping tap the Long Tail that could help change the fundraising game for our next President.
• Our platform remains insanely reliable and our commitment to customer service is something that we care deeply about and take seriously.
• And we're not resting on our laurels. We're in the process of building the next version of Slatecard which I guarantee will be the most powerful tool ever made available in politics. We could build and deploy faster with more resources.
  

We've built the platform for a community of Republican activists that could easily be embraced by every Republican candidate running for Congress or the Senate. Ditch your costly credit card processing system and engage Slatecard.com. A wider embrace now would add to our growth and the collective success of the Republican Party and help ensure the longevity of the Republican Party.

Sadly, the old saying, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink" remains relevant.

Six months ago we launched Slatecard.com.

My co-founder, Sendhil Panchadsaram and I wanted to build a new kind of utility for activists on the Right. A platform built on pillars of innovation, fairness, openness, honesty, and transparency. A website platform that could finally counter the Left's ActBlue, and do even much more.

Today, we're pleased to announce that we've crossed the $300K milestone and have nearly 5,000 individual donors on our list.

* Total: $310,363.58
* Supporters: 4,942

To be sure, we've made great progress without any resources. Though some political operations have the luxury of being funded with millions of dollars from big donors or make a profit by charging ridiculous credit card processing fees, we've done things a little bit differently.

From day one, we have "charged" a flat 4.5% credit card processing fee -- and we've been honest with you and our candidates about that cost. We've never charged a monthly or set-up fee to candidates. And a majority of that processing fee goes to Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and our merchant account fees. We've relied on the Slatecard community for donations to keep the operation up-and-running.

And remember, our goal is to get this processing fee even lower. We're working on it.

On the financial side of things, we're pretty deep in debt. As you may imagine, running a comprehensive, 100 percent volunteer operation like Slatecard is tremendously expensive.

If you want to ensure our continuity and help our effort succeed, I'm hopeful you'll consider making a generous donation of $250, $100 or even just $25 to Slatecard.com PAC today.

We value the early adopter candidates who use Slatecard. In fact, 39 federal candidates are using Slatecard exclusively to process their online donations. They are a huge part of contributing to our early success and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude for believing in us. We will not let them down and we hope to double this number before the election is over.

And you can see how the Slatecard utility has empowered candidates themselves to use the Internet smarter through our top Slatecard: Iraq Veterans For Congress, who have collectively raised more than $12,000 for each other by working together as a team. Their effort is even getting noticed by media hubs like the Wall Street Journal.

Which leads me to what's in store through this election and how you can help impact our vision for 2009.

Through 2008, you may notice a few upgrades particularly with regard to the candidate's secure donation page. They've asked for changes and we're going to make them. There will be some other changes that we'll let you know about on the blog.

As always, we need your help to spread the word on a continuing base. Please consider forwarding our emails around to your friends and ask them to join up at Slatecard.

We have a vision for what Slatecard will be in 2009, but we need your help today to make it even better.

Consider this an open invitation for you to send your ideas -- no matter how big or small -- regarding what you hope Slatecard will be in 2009. We're planning a strategy session in the near future and we promise to review every single idea that comes in.

Want to add your picture and website to your Slatecard? How about a directory for Slatecards and a featured list of Slatecards? State and local candidates? Want to be able to completely remove candidates from your Slatecard? More widgets?

Look, I promise, we are listening. Send me an email and let me know your wish list. If possible, please try and flesh out your request as much as possible and put them all in one email. Take some time and think about it. Make a solid argument.

Today is the first day of the next six months, and we're glad that you're a part of this effort. Thank you for your continued support.

Last week at CPAC we asked conservatives walking by our exhibit booth to take the CPAC Slatecard.com Pulse. The Pulse was a quick poll where conservatives selected their choice for the Republican nominee for president and then assign an "Issue Badge" to describe why they were supporting that candidate.

Well the results are in and with 289 votes cast, conservatives at CPAC have spoken.

With 151 votes, John McCain came away the clear winner of our CPAC Pulse, followed by Mike Huckabee with 92 votes and Ron Paul with 46 votes. 

But what's most interesting are the top issues driving support to the candidates.

 

For those backing John McCain the top issue by far was "Protect & Defend America":

 

But for Mike Huckabee his supporters top issue was "Faith & Values":

And for Ron Paul's backers, it was "Cut the Pork":  

 

Of course, the cool thing about Slatecard is that when you donate to a candidate, we ask donors to tag your donation with an issue badge that explains why you're supporting them. It works the same way as the poll folks took at CPAC. For more information about issue badges, read this blog post.

Here's a short video explaining how Slatecard works:

On Monday, we asked the Slatecard community to vote in an online poll to help us choose an issue badge to represent "Freedom."

Here are the results of that poll:

 

Before Slatecard, when an online contributor donated to a candidate online using a commercial vendor or a site like ActBlue, the process ended for a user with submission of the credit card data. But by contributing to candidates through Slatecard, users are able to qualify candidates by assigning that candidate an issue badge. The badge does not have any monetary value but rather represents the issue the contributor feels the recipient candidate represents well.

Therefore, Slatecard users will effectively create a qualified Wiki of candidates that the community will later be able to use to find those candidates, regardless of geography, that support the issues that they care about.

Ultimately, we expect this innovation to increase overall support for candidates by leveraging the collective knowledge of the community. Therefore, we're not only supporting activism, we're enhancing it.  

 

UPDATE Jan. 9, Noon: Voting is now closed. The winner will be announced shortly. 

Issue badges are the revolutionary way we help qualify candidates on the issues that matter most to us. To find out more about issue badges, read this post.

At the request of the community, we are adding a "Freedom" issue badge to the mix which will bring the total up to 29.

Please help us choose which badge best represents "Freedom" by voting in the online poll below. The badge which receives the most votes by Tuesday, January 8 at Midnight (EST) will be the badge we add to the system.