Over their heads

We're ready to launch 99airlines, our plan to hire planes to fly over high-dollar Mitt Romney fundraisers this summer, towing a biting progressive message. Will you chip in $5 to help launch 99airlines?  Chip in $5

Dear MoveOn member,

This is shaping up to be the dirtiest presidential election ever. And the most expensive, with pro-Romney super PACs and huge corporations spending like drunken sailors, thanks to Citizens United.¹ The sheer quantity of misleading ads will be stupefying.

But even if they buy the airwaves, they can't buy the skies. So we can "rise above" their dirty ads—literally—and fly messages from the 99% over dozens of Mitt Romney events. We already did it successfully when we hired a plane to fly over Romney's Liberty University graduation speech towing a banner that read: "GOP = HIGHER SCHOOL DEBT."²

We can't afford hundreds of millions of dollars of TV ads. But it turns out, if we all chip in a bit, we can afford to fly banners over Romney's head. All the time.

Call it 99airlines.

Here's the plan: if we can raise $150,000 today, we'll use the opportunity of high-dollar Romney fundraisers to fly a plane overhead towing a message that reminds voters how he represents his corporate and 1% donors.

It'll be fun—and it's sure to grab the media's attention. But most importantly, with Mitt leading in many polls, it's a way to let millions of voters who are concerned about the economy know whose side Mitt is really on. Will you chip in?

Yes, I can contribute $5.

With 99airlines, we'll transform Mitt Romney's 1% fundraising tour into an airborne progressive message machine. If we hit our fundraising goal, we can secure enough plane banners so that at every Romney event, instead of looking at the podium, the reporters' eyes and cameras will be pointing up, on the lookout for our banners.

According to Gallup, only 1/3 of voters under 29 are registered to vote and say they'll definitely do so in November (far less than every other age group).³ That's enough to swing the election. So with your support, we'll also reach these voters by making 99airlines huge online—using Facebook and a Tumblr site, to post pictures of the best plane banners.

This summer, we're pulling out all the stops to win the fight against the Romney super PAC ad assault. The 99airlines planes—and the messages they carry—will transform Romney fundraisers into an opportunity to remind voters what he really stands for—corporations and the 1%.

Can you contribute $5 to help launch 99airlines?

Thanks for all you do.

–Justin, Victoria, Emily, Garlin, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Fund-Raising for Romney Eats Into Obama's Edge," The New York Times, May 21, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=275763&id=42044-10220574-Nr_eh0x&t=4

2. "Photo: Overheard at Romney commencement address," CNN, May 12, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=275449&id=42044-10220574-Nr_eh0x&t=5

3. "What the war over youth vote is really about: Turnout," The Washington Post, April 26, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=275728&id=42044-10220574-Nr_eh0x&t=6

 

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 7 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

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PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to eddie alfaro on May 23, 2012. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.