St. Louis Beacon: Sowers stumps with Gen. Clark, unveils new online fundraising tool
June 15, 2010| By Jo Mannies, Beacon Political Reporter | |
| Posted 1:55 pm Tue., 06.15.10 |
Tommy Sowers, the Green Beret veteran running for Congress in southeast Missouri, stumped in St. Louis this morning with retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who said the Eighth District Democrat exemplified the type of congressional representation that rural America needs.
The loss of jobs and livelihoods in rural areas is "just so tragic," said Clark, who noted that he originally is from Arkansas. He recalled driving recently through Poplar Bluff and other parts of rural Missouri and noticing the decline in businesses and manufacturing jobs -- which he added he has witnessed in his home state and elsewhere.
Clark headlined a breakfast fundraising event for Sowers at Pi, a Central West End restaurant and bar. Those in attendance included St. Louis Democratic Party chairman Brian Wahby and veteran Democratic activist Lou Hamilton.
Clark said he has known Sowers for several years, beginning with Sowers' efforts to get Clark to address a class at West Point.
Clark said the location of today's event was dictated by his own schedule, since he was in St. Louis for an unrelated appearance at an ethanol-fuel workshop downtown. Clark left for the airport immediately after Sowers' event.
Even so, the campaign for Sowers' Republican target -- U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Cape Girardeau -- was quick to pounce on today's St. Louis gathering as another example of Sowers' fundraising outside the Eighth District. Its northern border is about 60 miles from St. Louis, the Emerson campaign said.
"You would think Sowers would bring his special guest Wes Clark to meet his supporters in southern Missouri, but instead he feels it's a better use of Gen. Clark's time to have yet another fundraising event in St. Louis," said Team Emerson senior adviser Josh Haynes in a statement.
"Clearly, Tommy Sowers' shallow support among Eighth District voters continues to drive his decision to raise money from people who are unable to vote for him for Congress, but who desperately want to maintain liberal Democrats' and Nancy Pelosi's hold on the U.S. House of Representatives. This money will fuel more negative, mistruthful attacks on Jo Ann Emerson and, no matter how you feel about politics in southern Missouri, that is just something voters in our part of the state don't support," said Haynes.
Clark, who heads a Democratic political action committee called WesPac, said he would return to Missouri to campaign for Sowers -- and would do so in the Eighth District.
Sowers' new fundraising tool attracts interest
In any case, candidates in both parties may soon be paying attention to a new online tool used by Sowers, who has been matching or exceeding Emerson in money-raising for months.
Sowers finance director Jennifer Haro demonstrated the new application, called "Square" after its company. It works on IPhones and similar cell devices, and allows people to swipe charge cards with their phones for financial transactions. A small sugar-cube-sized square "swipe" fits atop a phone. (Click here to read an earlier Beacon story about Square.)
Haro was joined by Bob Lee of St. Louis, who developed the software and now heads the local office of "Square," the firm that developed and now markets the application. The cofounders are St. Louisans Jim McKelvey and Jack Dorsey; the latter also created Twitter.
The downloadable application and the small square swipe are free. "Square" makes money by charging a percentage fee for each financial transaction (2.75 percent, plus 15 cents.)
Lee said that the Sowers' campaign is the first political operation in the country to use the "Square" application, but that they expect other candidates to soon follow.
Haro said the application allows for campaigns to immediately get their donations, without waiting for checks to clear, and makes it easier and more secure for field operations that collect money or sell campaign materials.
The "Square" application and device were first used at Sowers' recent fundraising event in Washington D.C., which featured Dorsey.
Clark, who made an unsuccessful bid for president in 2004, was spotted getting a demonstration of how the "Square" application works before he left Pi.
