WTF!?!?!?!?! Kerry had $15 Mill. unspent?

[Tamyrlin79]

JEESUS! Just heard this on AAR... Why wouldn't he SPEND the friggin' money? That 15 million could well have been the margin of victory.

Disgraceful. We put them on par with the Republicans on fundraising and they can't find a way to use it? Please. This is so not good.

First, the Campaign, (poorly run)
Then, the Concession, (poorly done)
And now, the Money. (poorly spent)

I swear Kerry seems to go down in my estimation by the day. Run in '08??? Phaw. I've seen enough of John Kerry in this election. I don't need to see any more to know he's lame.

[ohio_liberal]

1. Are there....

restrictions on how he could/can spend the money? Sorry, I don't have a good grasp on campaign reform...

[liberalpragmatist]

2. This has been beaten to death

This has beaten to death the last few days.

First of all, there's not much evidence that the extra money would've helped - both Florida and Ohio were saturated. The campaign ahd already spent more money than any in history.

Moreover, the money was leftover primary funds - they took public financing for the GE campaign and they were legally barred from spending that money after the convention.

Now, one legit line of criticism is that the money could have been donated to the DNC and to various House and Senate races. Kerry's campaign actually did donate a heavy amount to congressional races (more than any other candidate in history) but you could make a case that the rest should have been given too.

There was no malicious intent here. Probably one of two things. Number 1 - they wanted to leave themselves a cushion for any unexpected postelection expenses, or number 2 - incompetence before the convention, when the campaign was quite disorganized. It's also possible they were saving it for a potential Kerry reelection fund.

[Career Prole]

4. I kept getting a bug report while searching for "Kerry" and "15"

Just so I could see how many threads have been started on this subject. Sure wish they'd consolidate.
Kerry had 15 mill. If he'd spent it Rove would have raised 20 mill with a few phone calls.

[AlamoDemoc]

3. Let's not start

passing judgment on this issue yet....we should all wait until we hear from the Kerry campaign

[AuntieM1957]

6. There is no more Kerry campaign!

Didn't you hear -

he lost to Bush~!

[AuntieM1957]

5. So how do I get my $500 back?

Uh, hate to ask - but could I please have my money back!

I could really use it - especially since we lost!

Hell, someone that dense deserved to lose -

next time, I will vote Green..

[TheWatcher]

8. If you check Democracy Now from yesterday

In Amy Goodman's Interview with David Cobb the number was $50 Million. Now it's 15?

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/17/1525203&mode=thread&tid=25

[H2O Man]

13. The answer to that is

that there was, in fact, a "left-over" $50 million. Already, $32 million of that is going for unpaid bills. At least another $3 million will go for other bills. The Kerry "campaign" will be left with about $12 to 15 million.

This is not a new phenomenon. Gore had money left over. Almost every presidential candidate from one of the two major industries, er, parties does. It will likely be invested in democratic causes at a state level. It doesn't get wasted, or line Kerry's pockets.

Still, it just strikes the average person as somehow "wrong." In my opinion, when something strikes the average democrat as "wrong," it almost always is.

[Career Prole]

10. Don't let the door hit you on the bumpersticker on the way out.

If I had it, I'd give you the $500 (after I saw the receipt, no offense) just to cut down on the whine level in here.

[Yuugal]

7. I've only given money to an organization one time in my life.......

I gave Greenpeace 20 bux in the early 90's. A few weeks later they mailed me back all kinds of stuff, stickers, a placard for my car, lots of paper stuff, LOTS more begging. It went on for years and years and years and between them and the 40 other places they sold my info to(sierra club, peta, save the everything, etc) I must have been mailed 20 lbs of paper. It taught me a lesson on wasting my money on causes when just a little sweat is worth a million dollars. For people who say I'm wrong to be stingy, consider this:

You have some extra money and want to help your party/cause/group affect the public consciousness. Do you?

1)give it to the cause so they can send out 10 million mailers?

2)give it to the cause so they can run a tv ad?

3) bank the money so you can stay financially healthy enough to be able to worry about issues for your whole life and spend the time on the streets changing one mind at a time?

To my mind, the biggest prize for corporate America is when they have us so cold, tired and hungry that none of us will give a shit about abortion OR gay marriage on either side, and especially about corporate control over everything in our lives...... we will be worried about eating that night. My plan is to keep myself financially healthy enough to be able to still give a shit for the long term.

[JI7]

9. by LAW he could NOT spend that money on his campaign

because he accepted public funding. he had a lot more left and gave most of it to other candidates. he kept some because they said he could use it for possible legal fees after the election. but he was barred from using that money in his campaign.

[Bluerthanblue]

11. Spend it on WHAT?

i gotta say i recieved between 30-40 glossy mailings, many duplicates, encouraging me to vote for a team i had publicly said i supported-

i got phone call after phonecall, including messages which took up ALL the space on my answering machine almost every day in the weeks leading up to the election,- all encouraging me to vote Kerry- which i had repeatedly said i was going to do- AND did-

i used some of the glossy mailings as stickers, taping them inside my car windows, and creating messages that spoke the MANY reasons why i was voting as i did- i also had bumper stickers- i live on a very rural road, so a 'sign' wasn't much use- the local TV station was full of Kerry ads, far more than Bush-

as a matter of fact, the notion that Kerry DIDN'T just spend the 15million 'because he had it' makes me even more upset that he didn't dump Bush- that he understands that money isn't something that just falls from trees, and should be used up on anything that comes down the line- Money can't buy you love, or the presidency, unless your talking about 'buying' votes- which is something that would disqualify that candidate from my own personal list of 'decent' leaders- i see the surplus as an example of his 'fitness' for the job- and the repubs complain that we dem's use money with abandon-

this world is twisted.... beyond repair

[foreigncorrespondent]

12. You know what would be nice?

If he used that money to campaign the voter fraud stuff. Or better yet, if he donated that money to democrats who are out of work and have no unemployment left.

[Wallew]

14. He can use it for any purpose.

My understanding is if they don't spend it, they can use it for any purpose. Donate it to other campaigns, put it in the bank.

Kerry did say he is considering another shot. Maybe it's the begining of 08?

How much interest will he make on $12M over four years? Could be a sizeable warchest come 2008.

[demo dutch]

15. Not fair for AAR to sream about without disclosing the facts!

After all the bills are paid he'll have about 15 mil left. Once public funding went in effect he couldn't touch that money. Kerry can donate it to the DNC etc.
I bothers me that the Dems always take down their candidates if things don't work out, and it works destructive. For that matter we ought to take a lesson from the Repubs, who usually maintain a united front.