Obama's Red-State Appeal Explained

» NYT: What Makes People Give? (David Leonhardt)

In a great article that's ostensibly about philanthropy and fundraising, Leonhardt adds this anecdote of interest:

In blue states -- defined as those that voted for John Kerry -- even the existence of a matching gift had only a minor effect. It lifted the response rate by about 5 percent. In red states, though, a matching gift increased donations by about 60 percent. For isolated liberals living in states that had just voted for Bush's re-election, the glow that came from joining up with another liberal seemed to be much stronger. "Giving is not about a calculation of what you are buying," Karlan said. "It is about participating in a fight."

That does seem to capture a bit of the Dean/Obama phenomenon and strikes me as having a good deal of merit for consideration. It doesn't explain the political side of the equation (ie - WHY Dean or Obama are popular in those areas), but it certainly captures why the donor base operates the way it does once that political connection clicks. Imagine if Paul Tsongas had been cognizant of this back in 1992.