Howard Dean is weaning the DNC off corporate money.

madfloridian

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Thu Nov-17-05 12:42 PM
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Howard Dean is weaning the DNC off corporate money.

In spite of Big Eddie's big mouth on this topic, in spite of the TV talking heads spouting their talking points...he is doing what he set out to do.

Chris has a diary up about this.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2005/11/16/173244/43

He mentions this from June:

If we are indeed going to have an Indycrat realignment in 2006, it is going to be at least partially because of growing Democratic independence from traditional sources of power in Washington: lobbyists and big donors. As was reported back in June, Dean has already freed the DNC from any reliance on big donors whatsoever (emphasis mine):

As a fund-raiser--the first duty of a party chairman and Dean's claim to fame in '04--he isn't quite the disaster some critics suggest. Early in the last "cycle," in 2001, the Republican National Committee outraised the DNC by a 3-1 margin. So far this year, that ratio has been cut to 2-1. More important is the way it was raised. In the past the party relied on "soft money" from millionaires. But such donations are now illegal. Officials esti-mate that $12 million of the $14 million the Dean regime has collected so far this year has come from those who gave less than $250. "For people who really look hard at the numbers, he's wowing people," says Elaine Kamarck, a respected DNC member.

And remember that although Ed Schultz and all the others were saying he was poor at fundraising....Dean right now is over 10 million ahead of McAuliffe's fundraising in 2003....and he has not tapped the biggest donors. This is amazing.

Here is more from DailyKos about this.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/11/14/125530/33

Kos points out Dean is ahead of previous years, even after the stunning
losses of last year. And the money left in the states has not counted
toward it. He has funded directors in 38 states for far. Good diary.

So Dean has cut the RNC's traditional 3-1 advantage (or more) in fundraising to a 2-1 advantage and raised $11 million more than McAuliffe raised in 2003. Not to mention that Dean's numbers come the year after a presidential election -- the worst political fundraising time possible, while McAuliffe's came during the presidential cycle. Meanwhile, the RNC has remained static.

Dean has also been fundraising in the states, FOR the states. Past DNC chairmen would sweep into Lousiana or California, raise some money, and then ship the cash off the DC. Dean has garnered raves in the states for funneling that money to the local parties. Those are dollars not tallied in the RNC versus DNC comparisons. Mehlman isn't out tirelessly raising money for state parties.

So what's the source of all the kvetching? The big donors are upset that Dean hasn't kissed enough ass.

Dean was selected by outside-the-beltway Democrats, despite proclamation from establishment DC-based Dems that Dean would be the death of the party. If it was up to the DC crowd, Dean wouldn't have gotten within 500 miles of DC.

Again, Dean has already surpassed McAuliffe's vaunted presidenital-cycle numbers. Period. And they'll only get better. Dean has started rebuilding the state parties -- something DC Democrats could care less about (considering they never bothered trying to do it before).

Oh, I forgot...Happy 57th Birthday, Governor Dean.