Democrats question Kerry's 15 million $ campaign nest egg

[Pliablemoose]

Democratic Party leaders said Wednesday they want to know why Sen. John Kerry ended his presidential campaign with more than $15 million in the bank, money that could have helped Democratic candidates across the country.

Some said he will be pressured to give the money to Democratic campaign committees rather than save it for a potential White House bid in 2008.

"Democrats are questioning why he sat on so much money that could have helped him defeat George Bush or helped down-ballot races, many of which could have gone our way with a few more million dollars," said Donna Brazile, campaign manager for Al Gore's 2000 presidential race.

Brazile is a member of the 400-plus member Democratic National Committee, which meets early next year to pick a new party chairman. One high-ranking member of the DNC, speaking on condition of anonymity, said word of Kerry's nest egg has stirred anger on the committee and could hurt his chances of putting an ally in the chairmanship.

Congressional Democrats and labor leaders also privately questioned Kerry's motives. One said he would personally ask the Massachusetts senator to donate some of the money to the Democratic House and Senate campaign committees.

Three former Kerry campaign aides, also demanding anonymity out of concerns about alienating their former boss, said they were surprised and disappointed to learn that he left so much money in the bank.

Kerry had roughly $45 million left in his primary campaign fund as of mid-October, according to his Federal Election Commission report, and could use that as seed money for another presidential bid.

His final report is not due until next month, but officials close to Kerry said he has $15 million to $17 million in that account, with no outstanding debts, after giving the DNC about $23 million and state parties about $9 million since the mid-October report.

In addition, the report showed that Kerry had about $7 million on hand in a legal and accounting compliance fund that he could use for legal expenses in a 2008 campaign. Officials said he raised several million more for that account since the filing.

Last summer, Kerry donated $3 million each to the House and Senate campaign committees and $2 million to the Democratic Governors Association.

While Kerry has likely given more money to state committees than any other nominee, no other Democrat has raised as much as he did. And second-guessing Democrats said Wednesday they couldn't recall a candidate leaving so much money on the table after a campaign.

"He's going to have to give some of it up for 2005 and beyond," Brazile said. "The party will demand it."

USA Today

 

[kranky]

Seems kind of a stretch to assume that spending more money would automatically mean more votes.

Could there really have been that many voters who were on the fence to such a degree that watching a few more TV commercials would sway them?

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: kranky
Seems kind of a stretch to assume that spending more money would automatically mean more votes.

Could there really have been that many voters who were on the fence to such a degree that watching a few more TV commercials would sway them?

I'd wager yes. If advertising didn't work, people wouldn't spend billions of dollars on it per year, would they? A few doubt-instilling commercials here and there, some "I really am I human being, just like you guys" speeches could have only helped Kerry. Did he really give up near the end and hold on the $$ for a future campaign? Or did he think he had the election wrapped up? Curious.

 

[isasir]

Originally posted by: kranky
Seems kind of a stretch to assume that spending more money would automatically mean more votes.

Could there really have been that many voters who were on the fence to such a degree that watching a few more TV commercials would sway them?

Seeing the results now as they were, probably not, but it was well known that a lot of states could've went either way come Election Day, and an extra $15million spent wouldn't hurt. Imagine if this was the year 2000 and $5 million extra was spent in Florida, considering how close the vote was. We very well could've seen a whole different past 4 years.

 

[gutharius]

Just goes to show what I felt all along and everytime I saw him speak. Kerry never wanted the presidency, his lack of passion and personal feeling about it proved this to me. He also knew he could not do it because of his record on iraq. This 45 million just goes to prove it. God I wish dean would have practiced just a tinsy bit of restraint in the primaries... Ugh!

 

[Grunt03]

Heck, If I only knew that they were offering to buy votes, I would have sold mine to them........

 

[EagleKeeper]

The extra money could have helped the Congressional candidates or state candidates.

That seems to be what the frustration is about.

 

[Tom]

To me this demonstrates Kerry doesn't believe in throwing money down the drain, too bad he won't be in charge of the US budget.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Originally posted by: kranky
Seems kind of a stretch to assume that spending more money would automatically mean more votes.

Could there really have been that many voters who were on the fence to such a degree that watching a few more TV commercials would sway them?

I agree to a certain extent. If Kerry had spent that money EARLY to shoot down the Shiftless Boat guys and shine a little light on Bush hyprocrisy (flipflops), Kerry might have exited his convention with a real bump.

Now assuming Kerry spent all of his cash before the convention and this is merely leftover "taxpayer" subsidy . . . I'm not sure it would have made any difference in the Presidential election. To the contrary, several Congressional and state elections were clearly in play, though.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Kerry caves in...

CsG

 

[Moonbeam]

That stupid tight wad probably wouldn't have spent our tax money either.

 

[nageov3t]

weird. but whatever.

I've moved on from having any interest in Kerry beyond how he votes in the senate.

 

[GoPackGo]

It does seem strange?

how does this relate to gore, clinton, etc..?

 

[Genx87]

Seems kind of a stretch to assume that spending more money would automatically mean more votes.

These are democrats. Remember anything can be bought with cash.

This is kind of funny. They have money to use for 2006 and they piss and moan about it. You just cant please these people ::surprise::

 

[gutharius]

Originally posted by: Genx87

Seems kind of a stretch to assume that spending more money would automatically mean more votes.

These are democrats. Remember anything can be bought with cash.

This is kind of funny. They have money to use for 2006 and they piss and moan about it. You just cant please these people ::surprise::

I am getting sick of the partisan jabs. if you have nothing of interest to say don't post. Here enjoy!

 

[Genx87]

This is a political forum.

If you cant handle it. I suggest visiting one of the other fine forums of Anandtech.

 

[tallest1]

I figure he was holding onto it for fund lawsuits started by his team of lawyers.

Anyway, its a moot point now. The Dems noticed he had a surplus of money left and Kerry put it back into the goverment. Now if only Bush could do the same...

 

[yobarman]

See, the Democrats are good with saving money! Had Kerry won, we'd be out of debt by now! 😉

 

[smashp]

Originally posted by: yobarman
See, the Democrats are good with saving money! Had Kerry won, we'd be out of debt by now! 😉

zing!!!!!

 

[burnedout]

Update from the Washington Post

[Hat tip: Ed Morrisey]

Not Paid in Advance

There are rumblings that, despite a recent discovery of $15 million in leftover campaign money, some of the Kerry campaign advance team are having trouble getting paid for the last several weeks of the campaign. Worse, many of them have not seen a per diem check since the end of August, we're told, and they do not know when they're going to get paid.

Phone calls apparently don't get returned and, if they do, the mantra is "next week" or "you're on my list."

We'll be checking into this.

 

[bigj3347]

Speaking from personal experience, Betty Karnette was running for California Senator for my district. I recieved flyers in the mail, phone calls, and tv adds that were so incessant that I got pissed. Two phone calls a day, ads on EVERY TV station, or so it seems and three flyers in the mail every day. I may very well have voted for her if not for her incessant ads that bombarded me. I voted for her opponent simply because the sound of her name pissed me off. It was what i like to call OVERKILL. She managed to win the election, I don't know if her campaign funds had anything to do with it or not. She is after all, a democrat from California.