Less than two weeks after the mid-terms, ActBlue is already working on the '08 election by setting up a novel new fundraising strategy (it's waiting for approval from the FEC).

They'll be setting up fundraising accounts for declared and prospective presidential candidates, asking supporters to donate to their chosen candidate. If that candidate decides to run, he or she will get the money. If not, it goes to the DNC.

ActBlue's Candidate and Committee Directory gives a taste of what it looks like:

This doesn't only give candidates a chance to raise more money, but citizens will also have a chance to make their voices heard and to draft candidates from the ground-up. As Jonathan Singer on myDD notes, if they raise a big enough stink it might push their candidates to run:

In the case of Al Gore, for instance -- and I'm neither advocating for or against him at this point -- a million dollars or several million dollars in actual money could do more to force his hand than even a teeming list of possible or pledges supporters. And even if he didn't end up running, few would feel like their dollars went to waste because of the provision redirecting funds back to the DNC after the convention.

In a sense, this is a way of crowdsourcing the election; rather than waiting for potential candidates to come to a decision, the public itself works toward drafting them.

It's also similar to a site called Eventful, a tool that allows people to list events they want to have happen. Like Draft Clark's efforts on behalf of Wesley Clark in 2004, ideas like this give people the chance to build a critical mass of support that, if the voices are plentiful and loud enough, can convince a candidate to step into the ring.

Will the Republicans do something similar? Right now, nothing has been made public, but I've confirmed that similar efforts are underway and may be available by the end of this year or early next year.

Tags: Actblue, election 08, DNC, GOP

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