The "unused campaign money"

[Der Blaue Engel]

So, seriously, what's the deal with this claim? It pops up from time to time and I have no information that I can counter with. But I can't believe JK is just hoarding money that supposedly would have "made the difference" (in a rigged game). Does anyone know what standard procedure is regarding campaign funds? Do other candidates have leftovers? What do they do with them? What has Kerry actually done with his?

I know, lots of questions, but some smart Kerrycrat must know. I'm just sick to death of reading "I want my money back!" from spiteful people who probably also want their income taxes back if it goes to schools and they don't have kids.

[sandnsea]

1. I was planning on cutting a check

I am serious. If that one person had said anything less than $200, I was going to tell him to PM me his address. I am SO SICK OF IT.

There is campaign money and public money (the money you check off on your tax form). You can't spend the campaign money after you officially accept your party's nomination, which happened in July. It's only public money after that.

So yes, he would necessarily have money no matter how much was spent because you're going to get alot of donations the week of the convention in any event.

I don't remember all the figures, but part of the putting staff in every state came from a million dollar DNC donation. There was money to the WA State Governor's fight. Lots of other campaigns. Not sure what else. Sure, there's some politics to donating money to various local candidates. But it seems to me he's given money to people who really need it and who are in races we really need to win.

He did not hold any money back, that's just beyond ridiculous.

[fedupinBushcountry]

3. 5 weeks was a big problem

and Kerry knew it. He was thinking of a way to get around this predicament. I remember him actually thinking of not accepting the nomination at the convention so he could continue to use the money. It would of been a gutsy move and would have made August so much easier on him, but I think the higher ups said no way. To me that would have been a smart move, to bad no one thought outside the box as good as JK did.

[MH1]

2. Some points

1) Candidates usually have leftovers. For example, Gore still had a chunk after 2000.
2) There are various separate types of funds and restrictions on what can be used where. For example primary funds cannot be used in general campaign.
3) There are federal spending limits (not sure if that applies in this case)
4) It takes time to turn funds around and use them for activities. So if there was a flurry of receipts in the last week of the campaign it would have been hard to spend it.
5) JK has distributed quite a lot of bucks around to a variety of candidates in 2005, and now for 2006. In contrast, I believe if you look at their FEC filings you'll find that Hillary is hoarding.

Hopefully someone can post the detailed explanation of how some or all of these apply in JK's case. Mostly I consider myself not that smart to be second-guessing him. It is possible that he screwed up but if he did he wasn't alone - there were plenty of missteps by others in the party in 2004, and many of those could have "made the difference" just as much as a few more dollars spent here or there.

[ray of light]

4. he's also got money tied up in the Ohio lawsuits and legal fees

[JI7]

5. not so interesting, but freepers are saying the same thing

yeah i check out their site at times for various reasons. many times to get a laugh. but they have a bunch of posts about Kerry not spending the money during the campaign also.

they are too stupid to also see that it doesn't speak very well of their guy when they claim if Kerry had spend a bit more he would have won.

[Mass]

6. Some people just need to learn about election laws

1/ The money could not be used for the general election, which is one of the reasons why Kerry did not want to receive the nomination in Boston, so that he could continue to use this money during August. The "insiders" said: " you cant do that" and they were WRONG. Kerry was left without money to use in August and could not answer effectively to the SBVT or he would not have enough money to finish the campaign.

2/ Kerry gave part of this money to the DSCC and DCCC to help them with the congressional elections in 2004 - It was often said that he could have helped Bunnings and Coburn's opponents by giving them money, but besides the point that there has never been a claim that they asked for money and that the Kerry campaign refused, Carlson never wanted to have anything to do with Kerry. He did not even come to the convention in Boston. These people were too afraid to be seen as close to a " Boston liberal elitist" . Obviously, this was a good strategy, because as we know, KY and OK have two great Democratic Senators :sarcasm:.
3/ Kerry was keeping money because he expected that there would be a challenge. I have the feeling that he was as much ready to challenge the election as anybody else and that he was convinced not to do it by the democratic leadership. (we can agree or disagree with the decision, but it seems clear from what I read that it is what happened). In addition, Kerry has been giving part of this money to the Democratic Party, which is more than Gore has done with the money he had left.

[fedupinBushcountry]

7. I agree

and especially with your first point which I put in my earlier post.

I do disagree a bit with your third point. Kerry would have challenged if he found the fraud, even after he conceded. He was looking for a whistle-blower and knew he had to have verifiable proof to challenge, without that there was no way to win against these bastards. It is sad that all the horrible things that happened to voters on election day where not enough to challenge. We should all be appalled by that alone in this so called best democracy in the world.

[TayTay]

8. This is pretty definitive

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2004/11/19/some_democrats_decry_kerrys_unspent_16m?mode=PF

[WildEyedLiberal]

9. OMG.

From the article:

"Daniel Mongiardo, who lost a US Senate race in Kentucky by slightly more than 1 percentage point, said he would have loved to combat negative advertising by his opponent, Senator Jim Bunning. Mongiardo was unable to afford either mailings or a door-to-door effort to get out the vote, he said.

''We lost in the west, where they were running an ad against me that tied me to Kerry and accused me of being liberal, and that was far from the truth," said Mongiardo, who estimated that he was outspent 4-1 by Bunning. ''But we didn't have the resources to combat their message. We definitely outworked the guy. We just were underfunded."

So let me get this straight, ASSHOLE. You wanted KERRY to give you money so you could DENY that you were tied to KERRY.

WTF!!

Stupid fucking moron. If that's the way he ran his campaign, no wonder he lost to a fucking senile demented slobbering old man.

[TayTay]

10. That's not why he lost

and he probably knows it. The money was an easy thing for him to focus on. The truth is that Kerry gave more money to Democratic candidates in 2004 than anyone else in history. He donated a ton of money to the the Democratic Party and to the DSCC and DCCC. (I don't have access to the records right now, but someone with time on their hands can go to www.fec.gov and look it up. It was in the tens of millions of dollars.)

The money was an easy thing to focus on after the election. It fit the first wave of the 'Democratic Circle jerk' that goes on after a losing election.

[fedupinBushcountry]

12. In the article you posted

it said he gave 32.5 million to the DNC, the most ever by any candidate, and Donna Brazile is whining.

[TayTay]

13. Donna Brazille shouldn't be criticizing Kerry on this

and I think she figured that out. I mean, Al Gore had nearly the same amount left over in 2000. That was a bit of hypocrisy from her. I believe she did stop talking about it once people started to remember the facts.

[fedupinBushcountry]

11. I agree Wel

you know few weeks before the election the Virginia Dems asked Kerry if he could help and they needed $25,000., he gave them $50,000 to make sure they had enough.

My God the man was campaigning 24/7 and this guy who distanced himself from Kerry tries to put part of the blame on him. What a whining hypocrite.