Does anyone else remember Democratic Telethons in the 1970's?

They were shown on network TV, I'm guessing from about 1973-75 (based on my memories of watching them while babysitting). And of course the purpose was to raise money for the Democratic Party.

They worked pretty much the same way as the Jerry Lewis Telethons, with lots of entertainers to make people want to watch in the first place, a tote board of donations, and lots of testimonials on why people should give money.

I recall comedian Robert Klein MC'd for at least one year, and the reason he gave for donating was that since the GOP was able to get much more money from "fat cats," the Democratic Party had to collect lots of small donations from ordinary citizens. Otherwise, we ran the risk of becoming a single-party government.

Regardless of how successful the telethons were at raising funds, they were excellent PR for the party. I strongly suspect watching those telethons played a major role in my identifying with the Democratic part early in life.

I was curious if anyone else remembers these telethons. If so, why did they stop? I was also wondering if it would be a good idea to revive them, or if it would even be possible in this age of Campaign Finance Reform and Republican control of the media.

They had Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and other leading celebrity dems manning telephones.

They raised a lot of money for the Democrats. The Democrats could use something like that now.

.

A pay-per-view special would only reach people who already support the democratic party enough to give money.

A tele-thon that was viewable by everybody would have the potential of conveying a message to people who would otherwise be unable to see the program.

but what an EXCELLENT thought! I would love to see Kucinich do this - or any of them for that matter.

...that they were relatively non-partisan in tone, considering they were essentially a party fundraiser.

The message wasn't so much "our party is better than the other party, so give money." Rather, it was an appeal to patriotism: "If you love the American form of government, then help maintain a two-party system by contributing to the cash-poor Democratics."

Doubt that could happen today.

broadcast a Democratic telethon?

I remember seeing Nixon holding telethons the night before elections when I lived in Cali.
Also that is correct. The Democrat's telethons were to even up the money by appealing to small contributors, to combat the RNC fat cat donations.

I don't know why they stopped, although that's when campaign finance reform became a reality, in the mid-1970's.

I was just thinking about these myself! I didn't know if they actually had ever really happened or if it was just a figment of my imagination. I was young at the time so I can't remember anything about them specifically but I do remember seeing them on TV. Wow :) I tried a bunch of different google searches to see if anything would turn up but -- nothing. Was thinking about asking the question on DU but you beat me to it.
:toast:
By the way, I think they would be a great idea. Let's bring 'em back.

You hadn't truly lived until you saw Hubert Humphrey introduce the Doobie Brothers.
John
No kidding -- he did. Would I lie to you?

I guess we could rule out Arnold and Charleton Heston...

Robert Strauss. Remember him?

He was a far cry better than the pary chair we have now.

We'd have to get Janeane Garafalo to serve as MC in a a modern version of the telethon.