Listen up, voting matters.

But money talks and in 2020 Democratic voters hammered away like they were on a months long Coke bitch.

They poured roughly half a billion dollars in the coffers of major Senate candidates in the House.

Some Democrats raised 2 to 5 times more than GOP rivals.

And guess what?

Those candidates won the honor of conceding with dignity to their Republican opponents, plus a concession party with titanium crusted lobster.

But the question keeping me up at night, and not just because I drank a single origin Costa Rico cherry bed revenge Desafio Honey coffee is.

Did the Democrats just piss away half a billion dollars in 2016?

The game changed, and not just because I was a background actor in HBO's high maintenance Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump proved that with a national profile, you could take on well funded candidates with small donations.

Word spread like wildfire prayers up to California and in an election that costs around $14 billion money from small donors made up 22% of 2020 fundraising, up from 15% from 2016.

Why, thanks for asking.

And by the way that Bowler hat looks dope on you, the reason is a little something called Technology makes it easier than ever to donate with a click and buy Montana.

Steve Bullock that live laughed, lose by 11% pillow off his campaign wish list.

So how should you spend your do gooder donor Dollar?

The Brookings Institution Darrell West tells Fivethirtyeight that advertising is useful for making voters aware that a candidate or an issue exists at all.

Once you've established that you're really and that enough people are paying attention to you to give you a decent chunk of money, you reach a point of diminishing returns.

If a candidate has a big enough profile that you hear about them, their states, voters already know about them, too, and know they're going to be roadkill for Mitch McConnell.

Also, by then, it might already be too late.

As a Bernie Sanders fundraiser told Buzzfeed, a late influx of money leaves candidates on Lee one rial opportunity to spend it, and that's on TV ads which don't seem to be as effective at turning out voters as field organizing and other types of advertising.

So you might be better off using that money on a large audible tip during prolonged eye contact with the barista or donate when it's really needed early and where it's needed down ballot, statehouse and local races where dollars go way further, Democrats are getting out, raised by Republicans in competitive races in the most strategically important state chambers by a factor of 2 to 1 or more.

Losing these races Let's Republicans re Gerry Mander House Congressional District to their benefit every decade, like clockwork.

Hashtag I love my curvy district, But enabling concrete changes to people's lives is not why you donate money you donate because it's one of the Onley available expressions of your neutered, self perpetuating powerlessness.

That's where I come in, donate to the Sparks Accelerator Fund and all disperse your investment to the most winnable state and local races.

Eventually, I'll bring the overhead costs down below 94%.

None of the big hitters they're going to donate to me unless I own a Porsche.