WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton has figured out a way to monetize Mother’s Day — inviting supporters to enter a contest where she’ll ring up Mom just in case you forget to send flowers.
The Clinton camp tweeted out the contest Sunday, just when many Americans were scrambling for last-minute gifts and brunch reservations.
Entering is free, but those who sign up get directed to a page where they get the chance to “increase your odds” by giving cash to Clinton’s presidential campaign. Contribution amounts are listed at amounts ranging from $5 to $2,700.
There is no second prize listed — although everyone but the winner gets to have Hillary Clinton not call your mom.
Even campaigns that fail to raise big bucks with such contests are able to expand their email mailing lists for future fundraising efforts.
The contest page shows an image of a grinning Clinton on a cellphone — a contrast to the famous photo of a purposeful Clinton perusing her BlackBerry. Clinton had used that photo as her official Twitter avatar, but ditched it after revelations that she deleted thousands of personal emails from her home server.
“Mother’s Day gift idea: a call from Hillary. Sign up for a chance to surprise a mom you love,” Clinton’s account tweeted Sunday.
Her account followed up with another missive on Monday: “Hillary wants to call someone’s mom on Mother’s Day. It could be yours.”
One person who is presumably blackballed from getting the friendly Sunday greeting from the former secretary of state is Peter Schweizer, author of the book “Clinton Cash,” which documents the murky world of fundraising for the Clinton Foundation and millions in speaking fees hauled in by Bill and Hillary Clinton in recent years.
Clinton’s Mother’s Day gimmick steals a page from Vice President Joe Biden, who is known to dial up moms and all manner of other relatives when meeting people around the country. Back in February on a trip to Iowa, Biden rang the mom of Drake University senior Kayla Day.
“I hope I get to meet you, Mom,” Biden told Day’s mother on a voicemail message.