Dean, Kucinich Democratize Fundraising

[LWolf]

http://www.progressive.org/webex03/wx101703.html

<snip>

A chart by the Center for Responsive Politics shows the reliance of most of the Democratic candidates on donations at the $2,000 level. (The percentage is of all contributions greater than $200. See opensecrets.org.)


Edwards: 67%
Gephardt: 56%
Lieberman: 54%
Kerry: 53%
Clark: 31%
Braun: 30%
Dean: 13%
Kucinich: 12%
(Accurate information for Sharpton was not available.)

<snip>

Kucinich is the least reliant on $2,000 contributions, which is all to his credit. The Kucinich campaign says it has 44,000 contributors, with an average donation of $75.39.


According to the Dean campaign, he brought in contributions from 168,000 Americans in the third quarter, and fewer than 1 percent of those came from people dishing out $2,000 each. Instead, the average contribution was $73.69. Dean and Kucinich have managed to become less reliant on the superrich, which should make them more responsive to the needs of ordinary people.


And they have also managed to ignite the grassroots, giving vast numbers of people a sense of empowerment in the process of nominating a Presidential candidate, a process that usually is reserved for the handlers and the pollsters and the $2,000-a-platers.


How a candidate raises money tells us a lot about who the candidate is. In this primary, Dean and Kucinich are neck and neck.

[HFishbine]

1. I don't get

the limitation of the anlaysis to only contributions over $200. Am I missing some reason for this?

[dsc]

2. It might be to make it harder to game the system

by getting thousands of people to give a dollar or two a piece.

[stevebreeze]

3. the fed candidates must report only amounts over $200

:kick: