PENNY PINCHER
The Spine blog
Many Democratic pols are flush with campaign cash. I don't mean their own private money. This is also worth a look. How much, say, has John Forbes Kerry personally contributed to Democratic House and Senate candidates for whom extra contributions might mean the difference between victory and defeat? I don't really know. My guess is: not much.
But we do know from Saturday's Boston Globe that with $14 million in his campaign chest, that is, other people's money, all he has given--and that in 2005--is $15,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Ted Kennedy has contributed $1 million to the Senate effort; Hillary Clinton, $2 million. Barney Frank has given more than $300,000 to the Democratic House campaign. An underlying and resentful theme to this not pretty tale is that, at the end of the 2004 campaign, Kerry had $16 million left in his presidential till. He and his minions have spent a lot of effort conjuring up voting scam scenarios by the Republican party in Ohio that they say gave the election to Bush. It's all nonsense.
But what if the campaign treasury spent this money, or most of it, in the crucial states, Ohio included, might not George Bush have been spending all his time in Crawford? It shouldn't be forgotten that the Kerrys may have something just shy of a billion dollars. The excuse that Kerry needs the $14 million left over in his campaign account for another run in 2008 is frivolous and actually insulting to the many Democrats who shell out money that don't really have to help the party and its candidates. If Kerry wants to run, he'll have the money. And God help us. |
