Kerry '08 ... Derailed
Democrats Question Kerry's Campaign Funds
WASHINGTON - Democratic Party leaders said Wednesday they want to know why Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) 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 (news - web sites) 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 (news - web sites)'s 2000 presidential race.
Brazile is a member of the 400-plus member Democratic National Committee (news - web sites), 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.
Thus begins the road to exile? I've got to think if there's one simple rule of electoral politics, it's that if you know the race is going to go down to the wire, you prepare yourself to end up in debtor's prison by going all out to the finish line.
Comments
I agree, this is totally inexplicable.
Would you give money to Kerry again? I certainly he wouldn't. He's clearly not a good steward of campaign contributions. He took in $45 million more than he spent.
I keep thinking there must be an explanation. If there isn't, I would hope that donors would be livid.
Posted by: mls | November 18, 2004 05:20 AM
Do we know when this money was recieved? It's not hard for me to imagine a whole lot of money recieved in the closing weeks that couldn't be counted and disbursed even if they were willing to.
John Kerry knew that this was his best chance at the presidency. It's not as though he had any motivation to make the decision to "save up" for another run. Even donating to the party or congressional campaign would probably be helpful in terms of party support. More helpful than what happened, anyway.
I'm not inclined to defend Kerry, but I think a lot of people are jumping unnecessarily to conclusions here. Yeah, he needs to come clean about why the money wasn't spent.
Posted by: R. Alex | November 18, 2004 10:26 AM
Maybe there's an explanation for this. But if there isn't then I think the Kerry campaign should be ashamed. Imagine what that extra $15 million could have done in Ohio? I know second guessing is useless, but after receiving all those e-mails and pleas to donate all and everything we possibly could ... and somehow the campaign ends up with an extra $15 million???? That's just not right.
Posted by: Clint | November 18, 2004 03:11 PM