{"id":132409,"date":"2016-03-03T11:15:03","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T18:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=132409"},"modified":"2016-03-03T11:15:03","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T18:15:03","slug":"ben-carsons-small-dollar-donors-could-keep-yielding-big-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/03\/ben-carsons-small-dollar-donors-could-keep-yielding-big-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Carson’s small-dollar donors could keep yielding big money"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Carson\u2019s presidential bid has failed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the retired neurosurgeon\u2019s campaign succeeded wildly at one thing: collecting personal \u2014 and lucrative \u2014 information from more than 700,000 donors and millions of fans.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/a>

Gage Skidmore<\/p>

Ben Carson, speaking in Phoenix in August 2015. (photo cc info<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

This database is a potential post-campaign money machine: The remnants of Carson\u2019s campaign could wring riches from a legion of small-dollar supporters<\/a> for years to come, as other campaigns have done before it.<\/p>\n

How? By renting supporters\u2019 information to other candidates, political committees \u2014 even for-profit data brokers \u2014 that may, in turn, use it to raise money.<\/p>\n

If history is a guide, some of the primary beneficiaries of renting Carson\u2019s list would likely be his own campaign consultants and political operatives, who typically oversee marketing such lists and administering what remains of the campaign apparatus.<\/p>\n

Some Carson donors are unaware their information could be marketed to others, and when they find that\u2019s the case, they\u2019re not pleased.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be really, really surprised if Dr. Carson did that,\u201d said Travis Creed, 76, a donor from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. \u201cI would be very disappointed if someone else called me, especially if they told me they bought a list with my name on it. There\u2019s too much of that kind of thing going on in this country already.\u201d<\/p>\n

A high percentage of Carson\u2019s contributors hasn\u2019t previously given to political candidates, the Center for Public Integrity recently reported<\/a>, which means those donors are less likely to be on other political lists already in circulation. This makes Carson\u2019s supporter database an even more valuable commodity, to the party and to others who want to raise money.<\/p>\n