As someone who has experience in both tech and politics... this is off-base. I say this as someone who thinks Keystone XL is an abomination that needs to be shu

As someone who has experience in both tech and politics... this is off-base. I say this as someone who thinks Keystone XL is an abomination that needs to be shut down by any means possible (that does not result in the loss of life) and who has no love for Facebook. The stated goal of Facebook in this is to push for immigration reform. Elite Republicans are, all told, fairly pro-immigration reform. They don't need convincing. The "base," however, is virulently anti-immigrant (the same is true to a lesser extent of the less-educated white and black portions of the Democratic base as well). Running ads praising Republican politicians for supporting immigration reform is not going to be effective and more likely than not would cost them votes. If Zuck wants to make sure he has their support for his policy agenda, he's got to have something of actual value for them. It's not going to be votes, but it has to be something you can easily convert to votes. Money is that, but you can't just spend money on anything and expect to automatically get value for your dollar.