Dean Woos Wealthy Contributors

[Karmadillo]

I posted this not to criticize Dean (not that, obviously, I'm against that), but just as a reminder of how the system works and why it's hard to fight a plutocracy. If you read the article, you'll see how other candidates have sought out deep pockets (Kerry & Gephardt are mentioned with percentages for their large number of $2000 contributors). Big money talks a lot and progressive voices tend to get lost in the babble.

NOTE: Registration is required for the LA Times.

I added a couple of extra paragraphs because the article has a lot composed of one sentence. Hope that's OK.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-dean14dec14,1,4358975.story?coll=la-news-politics-national

<edit>

Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi acknowledged the need to solicit money from wealthy contributors.

"Our goal is to match the president dollar for dollar," he said. "To compete with $200 million, we're going to raise money in every way we can."

Campaign finance reform advocates express concerns that such competition for money almost assuredly puts candidates in the position of seeking help from donors who would expect favors in return.

"Arms races are dangerous," said Fred Wertheimer, founder of Democracy 21, a Washington-based nonpartisan group that works to eliminate the influence of big money in politics. "They basically lead people to trying to figure out every way they can to raise money, and that potentially gets you to influence-seekers."

<edit>

At a fundraiser in Boston on Wednesday night, which netted more than $250,000, about 500 supporters milled around a marble lobby, sipping Merlot and eating tuna tartare. "This country is going to be taken back by those who are disenfranchised," Dean said.

The audience — composed mainly of doctors, professors and corporate executives — clapped enthusiastically.

more...

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

1. "The People's Candidate!"

:) :hi:

[CMT]

2. Dean will raise money

the traditional way from large doners the same as Kerry, Gephardt, and the rest of them will, but he also has demonstrated he can raise substantial amounts of money from small donations averaging under $100 from thousands of people--that is what really fires the campaign.

[LuminousX]

3. He's raised a lot of money from The People

and seeing the other candidates are also dipping into the Wealthy Pool, Dean needs to avail himself of that resource as well. So long as the balance remains in my favor, I have no problem with that.

[slinkerwink]

4. Clark does the same thing with his one million dollar fundraisers

[pruner]

5. don't forget the $42,750 he's raised from bloggers in the past 2 weeks

[maddezmom]

17. hope he has a lot more of those

;)

[maxanne]

6. I don't get it

myself. Clearly the smart thing to do would be to piss off the wealthy donors, especially when going up against the huge sums of money Bush has amassed. What a dunce this guy is - taking money from rich people.

[Hep]

8. You're so right

and every donation from a rich person negates a hundred donations by people like me.

[eyesroll]

7. Merlot with tuna tartare?

See, there's the problem. Raw fish is tough to pair with any wine, let alone a red.

Try a sparkler. (Champagne goes with anything!) Perhaps a riesling, depending on what the tuna's seasoned with.

[Hep]

11. Tuna?

Tuna and reds go great. I would have used a grenache though.

[LuminousX]

9. The audience — composed mainly of doctors, professors and corporate execs

Doctors, Professors, and Corporate Execs - Oh My!

[HFishbine]

10. Dean hardly the favorite of fat cats

Candidates by average contribution:

Bush: $1,456.03
Edwards: $1,279.45
Kerry: $1,111.26
Gephardt: $1,094.87
Lieberman: $1,072.60
Clark: $762.81
Moseley Braun: $719.58
Dean: $540.21

Average income of donors:

Lieberman: $74.5k
Kerry: $71.9k
Bush: $66.7k
Clark: $64.4k
Gephardt: $64.3k
Dean: $62.5k

http://www.fundrace.org/moneyindex.html

When it comes to fat cat donations, it seems as if there are candidates other than Dean about whom one should be more concerned.

[dsc]

12. To your credit you mention this is there

but here are the actual figures.

According to fundraising reports through the end of September, 56% of Dean's donations came in increments of $200 or less, while 13% came from the 1,500 donors who gave $2,000 apiece, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In comparison, donations of $2,000 made up 73% of Bush's fundraising, the center reported. Other Democratic candidates also have relied more heavily on big donors. For instance, $2,000 contributions represented 55% of the money raised by both Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, according to the center.

end of quote

If one does the math one would see that $2000 donations make up over 4 times a high a percentage of Kerry and Gep's money and around 5.5 times as high a percentage of Bush's money. In addition Dean's money is running 4 to 1 in favor of less than $200. The wealthy have some right to political representation and Dean has by far the best balance of a major candidate.

In addition the article points out this.

Ticket prices to some Dean fundraisers vary to attract a mix of donors. At today's San Francisco event, where singers Bonnie Raitt, David Crosby and others will perform, the cost of admission ranges from $100 to $2,000.

end of quote

This is great in my opinion. Here he is keeping a mix of donors even at these pricy events. He is keeping to his roots here and that is all good.

[dajabr]

13. % from $2000+ Donors...

Bush 73%
Dean 13%
Kerry 55%
Edwards 65%
Lieberman 52%
Gephardt 55%
Clark 31%
Kucinich 11%
Larouche 5%
CMB 30%
Sharpton 64%

http://www.opensecrets.org/presidential/donordems.asp

[maddezmom]

15. thank you

that put things in perspective. :)

[Kolesar]

14. Congressman Traficant used to "shake down" contributors

He did not wait for the special interest corporations to call. He showed up in their office, stuck out his hand, and named the amount he wanted (speaking figuratively). He was a shameful democrat who took contributions from polluters, but he knew he had something to offer them in return--his votes.

Special interests and rich people would be fools to not try to get favor from Dr. Dean at this time.

[Mountainman]

16. Do we not expect favors from our candidates?

We don't say to them, here's a million bucks for your campaign and I want you to remove taxes on my business sector but we do have specific things we want them to do.

If Dean or Clark accepts money from wealthy contributors does that mean they are turning their backs on what we want? The answer from those who see wealth as an evil will think so.

Some things that hurt us as a party are perceptions that people get from the things we say and do. The perception is that we are apposed to the wealthy or are apposed to the removing barriers to wealth building. That isn't necessarily so, we do care about the plight of the working class but that doesn't mean we are apposed to wealth but the perception is that we are.

So the idea that our candidate can't take money from the wealthy hurts us in the end because of the perception it helps create. If we are to beat Bush we cannot restrict ourselves to some certain portion of the classes that we feel sympathy for. We need to be open to all people.

We need to get rid of perceptions that are not true but that turn others against us. I constantly see an anti wealthy bias here at DU and I think about the working class repubs that support Bush because they feel that someday they will be wealthy and the republican party is the party that will help them do that and the Democratic party is the party that will hurt their chances. That is not true but it is the perception we help to create.