So you want to make a political contribution, but you want to make sure it helps to make a difference?

First of all, if you’ve never made a contribution before, may I suggest that you do two things first?

1. Create an extra email account at gmail (or wherever you prefer) specifically for political contributions.

2. Create an extra phone number at Google voice, again specifically for political contributions.

You can manage both of those accounts in any way that you like. For example, you could have the Google Voice number forward all calls and texts to your primary phone, or you could just have it keep them all to itself. The idea is that once you make a contribution, your email and phone number are going to be sold to around and forever more you’ll be inundated with texts and emails that you probably don’t want to receive. Best to keep them separate from your regular accounts. 

You can even delete the accounts. But not right away. Wait at least until your contribution has been validated, preferably until after the election.

Anyway, that out of the way, how do you make your contribution count?

If you’re a Democrat, you can try going to either Oath or Blue Tent.

Here is how the folks at Electoral-Vote.com, which is where I heard about these sites, describe them:

They look at three factors: (1) competitiveness, (2) high stakes, and (3) financial need. They have analyzed thousands of races from state legislatures on up. If a race is not competitive, either because it is a sure win or a sure loss, why waste money on it? So only competitive races make the finals.

Second, the race has to matter. The Idaho state Senate is 7D, 28R. If one of the Republican seats is very competitive and with some extra cash, the Democrats could change the Senate to 8D, 27R, that race would not be a good investment since it really doesn’t matter who wins it, even if the race is very winnable.

Third, if a race is winnable and important, but the candidate already has more money than he or she could possibly spend, then the donor should look elsewhere. Only if a race scores high on all three factors does it get recommended.

Beyond that the two sites have somewhat different strategies. Take a look and see what you think.

So what if you’re a Republican? How can you make your contribution count?

As you surely know, the modern Republican Party has lost its collective mind. That’s not my opinion, that’s a simple fact.

What’s the best strategy for getting it back on track? I wish I knew.

My best bet is that it needs to be beaten down in a series of elections so it’s forced to take stock, but I really don’t know.

Earlier this week, some folks at the Bulwark looked towards history to see what it might tell us about the future to the GOP.