NEW IDEA FOR CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISING

Here's an interesting story from the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill:

It seems as though a 24-year-old longshot candidate seeking to depose Congressman Joe Barton (R - TX) from the right had an interesting idea to kill two birds with one stone: Dating and campaign fundraising.

Joey Dauben had initally floated the idea of charging $25 per date from donors, which would include dinner, a movie, or maybe miniature golf.

“They say the young candidates bring in fresh ideas, and I figured, why not? I’m single, and I need quite a bit of money to meet my goals for this campaign against Mr. Barton,” Dauben said in a release announcing the brainstorm. “A date with a congressional candidate at $25 is nothing compared to what major corporations wine and dine their pet politicians with.”

The idea was quashed reportedly "hours" later after negative publicity.

In another case, Brown University associate professor of political science Jennifer Lawless, who is challenging incumbant Congressman Jim Langevin in the Democratic primary, was reported to have accepted $1500 in donations from students whose thesises she grades as well as $2100 each from one student's father and sister.

She has reportedly returned the student donations, and is under pressure from Brown administrators to return the family donations as well.