eNilsson

Whitman Raises $2.5 Million in a One Day Blitz

April 21, 2009

San Jose, CA -- What happens when you put 150 Californians in a room with Meg Whitman, a phone and a computer running eNilsson's BlueSwarm platform for 5 hours?

You raise $2.5 million dollars to help elect Meg Whitman as California’s next governor.

Nearly 150 Californians, including prominent political, business and community leaders, traveled April 21 to San Jose from across the state. They dialed the morning and afternoon away, asking friends and colleagues to pitch in and help out for a good cause -- to elect Whitman and position her to fix a dysfunctional state government and build a new California.

In the end, the volunteers processed $2.5 million in donations and commitments utilizing BlueSwarm. And Whitman announced that she will have raised at least $5 million by June 30, when the initial campaign finance reports must be filed.

The “Call Day” event, which was held at the San Jose Convention Center, is part insider briefing, part pep rally and part telethon. It was the first of its kind for a gubernatorial candidate in California, Whitman said.

Whitman made the first call, smiling as she dialed her close friend and boss at Bain & Company, Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate quickly pledged the maximum donation amount of $25,900 to Whitman’s campaign.

“The entire nation is abuzz, I think, because you’re going to make a real difference for California,” Romney said on speakerphone. “I’m delighted to be part of this.”

The amount of money pledged exceeded Whitman’s expectations, especially with the primary election 14 months away. It’s a sign of how motivated Californians are to see progress in this state, she said.

“They believe in this message of an improved economy through job creation and job retention, getting government spending under control, and once and for all addressing the challenges of our K-12 education system,” Whitman said.

“There was a lot of connecting over a shared desire for California to be great again.

There were people in this room who I’ve known for 30 years and literally there are people I met today who were encouraged by their friends to come and make calls on my behalf. It’s a remarkable experience.”

Paul Makarechian took some time off work to travel from Orange County to San Jose for the event. As a young CEO of a real estate development company, he said he’s seen too many foreclosures, too many people losing their jobs and too much stalled construction. He’s nervous about the state of things in California and whether his kids will have the same opportunities he had when he moved here nearly 20 years ago.

But Whitman’s policies give him hope for the future. And judging from the responses he got when he made calls for donations, he thinks other Californians are hopeful, too.

“It’s tough times right now so I think everybody’s a little bit gun-shy with giving money. But when you talk about Meg Whitman, I think people all of a sudden light up and get really excited because I think people want to see the state get better,” said Makarechian, a Newport Beach resident. “And when they see somebody like her that can actually fix the state, they get excited about supporting something they can get behind.”

For a political candidate, Call Days aren’t just about how much money is raised, Whitman said.

“It’s also a sign of momentum and broad-based support among all Californians for a candidate like me,” Whitman said. “We’re asking people to give money at a time that I think is difficult for virtually every Californian, but I feel really fortunate that we have momentum.”

Former California Gov. Pete Wilson, who is also Whitman’s campaign chairman, attended the event and made calls with his wife, former California First Lady Gayle Wilson. He came because he says Whitman has what it takes to turn around California’s abysmal economic climate. Wilson, who governed the state from 1991 to 1999, said he leapt at the chance to chair Whitman’s campaign.

“I am not new to politics. I’m relatively new to being a grandfather. I now have five grandkids all living in California and I want for them the kind of opportunity that this state represented when I first came as a midwestern transplant and a Marine in uniform many, many years ago,” Wilson said. “It was a different place. And it can be a different place again but only, only if we put in the governor’s chair someone who has not only her clarity and discipline but the courage to make the kind of change that is necessary.”

It was Eileen Leech’s first Call Day. She had heard Whitman speak at an event and was inspired by her ideas, so she traveled from Pasadena to volunteer. She wasn’t sure what to expect when she picked up the phone, but she found that people on the other end of the line were eager to hear more.

“People care about California and they want things to go well in California and they want their fellow Californians to have a good life here,” Leech said. “So people are very receptive to learning more about Meg.”

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