Trippi on Franken: Kerry should opt out of

[kaitykaity]

the $75 million after the convention.

"Two million people donating $100 in one day to Kerry
would do it."


What a GRAND idea.

[Merlin]

1. Especially since Shrubbie is highly likely to opt out himself...

no matter what Kerry does.

Why would Bush restrict himself to such an artificially low amount?

[calico1]

3. I agree

I hope Kerry opts out.

[tom_paine]

4. Because of the Lawlessness of Imperial Amerika, Bush* can do both

He can take the money.

Then he can spend limitless amounts from his various Slush-Funds.

Who is going to stop him?

The Bushevik Ministry of Justice (can I mail some anthrax to some Democrats for you?)

Perhaps the Imperial Congressional Democrats (can I cower some more for you?)

[gasperc]

14. Yeah, and wait till after the GOP convention to do it

then what? the Kerry team must have this as their top concern

[wicket]

2. I didn't realize he had a choice

That's definitely nice to know! I think he should opt out, and continue fundraising. Bush has a full extra month to do the same.

[kaitykaity]

7. I didn't know that either.

I don't know if he does or not. That's just
what Trippi said.

[LSdemocrat]

5. I think he should opt out

If both parties conventions were closer together, I might disagree, but since there is a full month's difference between the conventions Kerry shouldn't force himself to live under the unfair spending caps.

[qazplm]

6. opting out is low risk high reward

because:

a. you are likely to raise at least 75 million between now and election day (so low risk)

b. you can keep on raising money all the way through DNC and beyond and spending it (no month long drought)

c. you still have moveon.org and others to help you out

d. the media would spend days talking about the "bold, unprecedented move"

e. it would come across as a strong confident and aggressive move by Kerry

[Rosco T.]

8. f. Karl Rove would drop a load in his pants. n/m

[gasperc]

16. Rove is probably planning to opt out in Sept

when it's too late for Kerry to do so, Kerry better have a back up plan on this

[Kolesar]

9. There is still 527 money flowing to Kerry, though

527 refers to the loophole for soft money after the McCain-Feingold bill "stopped" soft money contributions to candidates.

[Kolesar]

10. This is from the man who advised Howard Dean ... on ... to ....

... oh, never mind.

[kaitykaity]

12. Don't blame Trippi alone for the implosion of the Dean campaign.

What Dean and Trippi accomplished before the campaign
went down is truly amazing and worthy of consideration.
Whatever happened after.

[trogdor]

18. The Rommel Effect.

I'll name it after the Wehrmacht's best general because he was one of the first to recognize it, except it applied to the entire German Army. Germany had the finest, most state-of-the-art high-tech army in existence going into World War II. This is something on which a lot a of people agree. Problem is, the world's finest army still can't take on the rest of the world at the same time, which is what Dean was forced to do.

Dean's successes in organization and fundraising have been largely assimliated into the Kerry campaign, with greater success than before. This proves the value of what the Dean people were trying to accomplish. We have broadened participation in the process to a far larger group of people than Al Gore could have imagined four years ago, and for that we owe Howard Dean big time.

[kaitykaity]

20. Don't forget the "spine transplant."

Howard was the loud, obnoxious kid who yelled out "the
emperor has no clothes." Once Bush's status as naked
was out there, Kerry the calm and sane and rational could
take up the charge.

(I read this somewhere ages ago, and I'm probably
messing it up some. And I can't find the link.)

[LoZoccolo]

11. It may be safer to opt out than I thought originally.

I'm not sure, but the Kerry campaign might have a big chunk of $75 million, if not that, left over after the convention. It seems like he's raised quite a bit towards the end here, and might not even be able to spend it all. He may be in a good position to make up what he'd waive in public funding pretty easily.

I guess another question, though, is if any donors have maxed out the campaign contribution cap so far, would they be able to donate up to another $2000?

[qazplm]

13. I dont know

that is a good question since I dont think anyone has ever opted out of the 75 million before.

I am sure there are rules on it.

But as said above, he is very likely to hvae near 75 million by the end of the convention.

There are still plenty of people I suspect who havent maxed out their contributions yet.

[WilliamPitt]

15. Will Kerry get access to Dean's List?

[LoZoccolo]

19. Dean's list will come to Kerry.

Enough of it to make a difference.

[MasonJar]

17. I checked on it, and one cannot give again. I wonder if one

could give to Edwards. Probably not.

[chimpy the poopthrower]

21. One problem I see...

If you look at the record-breaking donations that Kerry has received so far, you also have to consider that many of those donating thought they were beating an approaching deadline and likely gave as much as they could. I personally donated about a week's worth of take-home pay, and I don't see myself doing that again. People who basically thought they had done their good deed will be asked to dig into their pockets again. People who donated the maximum can't do it again although they are the ones most likely to be able to afford to. So the well might dry up sooner than expected unless Kerry can really reach out to new people.

[LuminousX]

24. Then there's people like me

who after donating to Dean, stopped donating to any other campaign and have only given money to groups like MoveOn. Why? Sore loser I guess, but if Kerry opts out, I'll make sure he doesn't regret it and give what I can to him.

That in and of itself isn't a good reason to give, but if there are other Dean people who are like me, that could give him the numbers advantage. I'd prefer it, though, if a request to send money to Kerry came to me because I was a Dean supporter, it would come from Dean, much like how I heard about http://www.johnkerry.com/dean I'll help swing the bat, as long as Dean is the coach.

[xray s]

22. If I were Kerry...

...I'd hold off taking any public funds during August. For all we know, the news might be very negative for Bush in August, countering any spending Bush might do on ads. Then, if Bush opts out after the R convention, Kerry can do the same with no need to explain.

If it turns out Kerry starts to take some hits from Bush in August that are hurting Kerry, he should opt out then. He'll almost have to.

[Merlin]

25. But that would mean Kerry couldn't do ANY advertising in August.

Otherwise, it's a good strategy.

[THUNDER HANDS]

23. NO NO NO

All it takes is another terrorist attack and all the donations dry up like the Sahara.

Stick with the easy $75 million and spend wisely.

No unnecessary risks at this point in the game.