Street money (also called walking-around moneyhttps://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/walking-around-money) is an American political tactic where local party officials are given legal cash handouts by an electoral candidate's campaign in exchange for the officials' support in turning out voters on election day.

Usage

The money given out to

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

leaders and party foot soldiers can range from $10, $20 or $50 to as high as $400. Ward bosses in the city's poorer neighborhoods often use the money to offset the costs of gasoline and food for their volunteers. Although most well known in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, street money is also common in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. In Baltimore, the term "walk around money" means street money.

History

During the 1997

Camden Camden may refer to: People * Camden (surname), a surname of English origin * Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer * Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor Places Australia * Camden, New South Wales * Camden, Rosehill, a heritage res ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

City Council race, the Camden City Democratic Committee spent $10,765 to pay street workers $40 each to "get out the vote". Others have included

Jon Corzine Jon Stevens Corzine ( ; born January 1, 1947) is an American financial executive and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from 2001 to 2006 and the 54th governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. Corzine ran fo ...

(whose campaign paid out $75 apiece to New Jersey party officials during his successful 2000 Senate bid),

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

(in Pennsylvania during the 2004 presidential election) and Robert A. Brady (during the 2002 U.S. House race). After the 1993 New Jersey gubernatorial campaign, Republican

Christine Todd Whitman Christine Temple Whitman (née Todd; born September 26, 1946) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the administration o ...

's campaign manager

Ed Rollins Edward Rollins (born March 19, 1943) is an American political consultant and advisor who has worked on several high-profile Republican political campaigns in the United States. In 1983 and 1984, he was national campaign director for the succes ...

was accused of boasting that he had given $500,000 in street money to black churches in New Jersey in exchange for their keeping their congregation from voting for incumbent

James Florio James Joseph Florio (August 29, 1937 – September 25, 2022) was an American politician who served as the 49th governor of New Jersey from 1990 to 1994. He was previously the U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 1st congressional district from 19 ...

. Rollins later retracted his claims, saying that his comments were taken out of context. Subsequent investigations by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation found no wrongdoing on Rollins' part, finding that his original claims were braggadocio. During the

2008 Pennsylvania Democratic primary The 2008 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary was held on April 22 by the Pennsylvania Department of State in which voters chose their preference for the Democratic Party's candidate for the 2008 United States presidential election. Voter ...

, both

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

and

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

refused to hand out street money,

Governor of Pennsylvania A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Ed Rendell Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American lawyer, prosecutor, politician, and author. He served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011, as chair of the national Democratic Party, and as the 96th Mayor of Philade ...

commented that the unusual amount of interest in the race would bring people out in support of both candidates, street money or not. Rendell later remarked that the Clinton campaign had "barely enough

oney Oney may refer to: * Oney, France, a subsidiary of French Auchan Holding and Banque Accord * Oney, Oklahoma, an List of unincorporated communities in Oklahoma, unincorporated community in Oklahoma * Oney (song), "Oney" (song), a song written by Je ...

to communicate on basic media", much less for street money.

References

{{Reflist Elections in the United States Politics of Pennsylvania