Who Bought the President?

This is an easy game that raises public awareness about money and politics and Democracy Matters on your campus.

Materials you will need: a table set up in a high traffic area of campus; some small prizes (candy bars; burnable CDs, DM stickers or buttons); magic markers; large roll of white paper and tape.

You will need to go to www.opensecrets.org to get the information you need on who contributed to the President or whatever politician you are focusing on. Hang the big sheet of paper on a wall near your table so you can write on it. Before you hang it up, have it partially decorated with Democracy Matters logos and catchy slogans like “Get Big Money Out of Politics” etc. to attract attention.

The game works like this: Be loud and attract attention to get people to come over and guess who contributed to the campaign you are focusing on. If they get the right answer you give them a prize and write the name of the corporation in BIG letters on the white paper hanging up (so everyone can see it). You can also put the person’s name on a list of honorary DM members who know who owns their politicians (people like to see their name in “print.”) If you like you can offer bigger prizes to anyone who can name three or more contributors.