More of us than them.... something to think about

[radfringe]

I hope we can put aside our differences regarding who should be the Democratic nominee for a few moments and consider this.

Our common goal is to send Bush back to Crawford - permanently. Our common fear and arguments surround WHO of the Democratic candidates would be able to send Bush packing.

As we know, money plays a big part in any campaign - Bush has alot of it and is raking in more every day. Individual Democratic candidates are behind in comparison to the total dollar amount.

Yet, as Dean has pointed out in his campaign the average donor amount is around $70.00. I suspect the average is around the same for the other Democratic candidates.

Bush is gathering large donations from fewer people, whereas Democratic candidates are gathering smaller donations from MORE people. Last time I checked, it's one person-one vote NOT one dollar one vote. or to put it another way - a $2000 donation to Bush from one person still means one vote, where as 20 $100 donations to a Democratic candidate means 20 votes...

We are currently divided amongst ourselves, lots of in-fighting and I suspect it's because we are angry and are currently unable to direct that anger at Bush in a larger public forum than an election campaign would provide - so we are taking it out on ourselves. The anger is there amongst many Americans, Dean tapped into it - he didn't create the anger - it already existed, and it's growing No matter who ends up with the nomination, the shear number of angry people will emerge behind that candidate.

[Jerseycoa]

1. We will

This is the Democratic Primary race. We're not all on one side. It's a political race among eight candidates and we are backing different horses. Once the primary is won by a Democrat, we will rally round. Come the nomination, we will all be there and we will beat George Bush. But for now, we are not on the same side.

It's a fight and it always is.

:dem:

[bryant69]

2. It will be interesting if this works out.

I've heard the figure thrown around that traditionally it is us democrats that bring in the larger ticket donations, and they get more smaller donations (For which the answer usually comes back as the Christian Coalition).

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[adriennel]

3. right on!

you're right about the money thing. The Bush team has got to know that 2k of GOP money is not worth the same amount of votes as 2k Dem money. If I had 2k to give to a Dem candidate, I would. I don't, and neither do most of the people I know.

here is my fear:
money may not buy votes
but it can buy an election
and I'm sure these plans are already well in place.

as one who spent several productive years testing software in the 1990s, there is NO WAY electronic voting can be implemented properly before the next election. No way.

Before the next election, we need a nation-wide citizen refresher course about voting protocol. Everyone needs to know their rights, be observant, and report any misconduct you see. It's the only plan I can think of. sigh

[NewGuy]

4. Money can buy votes

That is what political advertising is all about. The more you raise the more air time you can buy and the more people you can influence. That is why the campaign finance reform law tried to limit fund raising to small contributions, that way they could attempt to reduce the amount of money spent influencing Americans.

I don't think it was a good idea since I think that selling yourself on a national scale requires TV advertising.

[radfringe]

5. ammo for who's getting what from whom

http://www.opensecrets.org/

good site - lists all candidates in all races, how much they are getting and from whom

http://www.opensecrets.org/presidential/index.asp
George W. Bush (R) $84,583,768

Howard Dean (D) $25,387,493
John Kerry (D) $20,043,631
John Edwards (D) $14,510,398
Dick Gephardt (D) $13,666,915
Joe Lieberman (D) $11,779,353
Lyndon H. Larouche Jr (D) $5,652,783
Wesley Clark (D) $3,491,108
Dennis Kucinich (D) $3,399,709
Carol Moseley Braun (D) $341,668
Al Sharpton (D) $283,529
===============================
total $$ for Dems $205,780,172

that's alot of $70.00 per person average donations

donor demographics: http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/donordemographics.asp?cycle=2002