The Kos Bump: The Political Economy of Campaign Fundraising in the Internet Age

23 Pages Posted: 19 Jul 2010 Last revised: 4 Jul 2014

See all articles by John Sides

John Sides

Department of Political Science

Henry Farrell

George Washington University - Department of Political Science

Date Written: 2010

Abstract

The growth of political blogs has spawned much speculation about their impact on politics, but little hard evidence. We demonstrate that attention from political blogs helps candidates raise money during campaigns. Drawing on data from the 2005-2006 election cycle, we show that blogposts on the Daily Kos, a prominent leftwing blog, were associated with increased donations for the candidates that these blogposts endorsed. Our analysis uses a fixed effects framework and weekly data on Daily Kos attention and fundraising to mitigate potential threats to inference, including selection effects and reverse causation. The implication is that blogs and other new forms of media can directly affect on important political outcomes.

Keywords: campaigns, elections, blogs, fundraising

Suggested Citation

Sides, John and Farrell, Henry John, The Kos Bump: The Political Economy of Campaign Fundraising in the Internet Age (2010). APSA 2010 Annual Meeting Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1643672

John Sides (Contact Author)

Department of Political Science

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230 Appleton Place
Nashville, TN 37203-5721
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Henry John Farrell

George Washington University - Department of Political Science ( email )

Washington, DC 20052
United States
202-247-0413 (Phone)

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