Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid begged Democratic voters on Friday to help the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reach a $1 million fundraising goal by midnight to pay for its grassroots efforts in tough battleground states to "keep the Senate safe from tea party extremists!"
"It’s the single most important day of the entire election," the Nevada Democrat said in an email sent to contributors just before 9 p.m. Eastern time. The subject line in the solicitation says, "I'm begging you now."
"The last-ever end-of-month fundraising deadline strikes at midnight tonight — and it will decide everything," Reid said.
The solicitation continued: "This is major news: The DSCC could hit a record $1 million in grassroots contributions today for the first time EVER. That’s astounding. It would SHATTER every record in history!"
If the committee reached the goal, "in just four hours," Reid said, "we'll be able to plug the $170,023 hole in our 'Final Weekend Get Out The Vote Push' budget!"
The committee, he said, would "send that money immediately to deadlocked battlegrounds, WIN this election, and keep the Senate safe from tea party extremists!"
Democratic senators are defending their seats in tough contests in four Republican-leaning states: Arkansas, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Alaska.
The GOP needs six seats to retake the upper chamber on Tuesday. Democrats were swept into power in the 2010 elections — and Reid has since been the subject of Republican ire.
The solicitation then continued: "Will you pitch in to help us meet our CRITICAL $1 million single-day goal and WIN the Senate? We’ll triple-match your gift!"
The email contained links that can be clicked to make contributions of $3, $8, $17, $25, and $35 "immediately."
Individuals could also click on another link to "donate another amount."
Reid ended the email by saying, "I have a good feeling about today."