Anyone know how the $41Mill spent. Just heard its all gone. A record?

[Sensitivity]

Just heard report that almost all the money is gone. I thought
Dean had broken the record on money raised in a primary ever.

How could all that money be gone after just 2 States?

I never would have imagined this since the Governor has
such a good record of budget management in Vermont.

[Catholic Sensation]

1. There's no way he spent 41 million in two states

The only person I could see spending that much money like that is Bush, and that's because Bush has absolutely no idea how to handle money intelligently.

This is not comparing Dean to Bush. I don't believe for a second Dean spent 41 million in two primary states.

[SadEagle]

2. He didn't.

Ads were run in many February 3rd states; there is infrastructure on the ground in many states, too.

[lancdem]

3. Didn't Dean have a nationwide organization?

It was probably spent in many states.

[frustrated_lefty]

At one point in the campaign

I read he had ground organizations running in 27 states. That had to eat a lot of it. And, after Iowa he hired a number of "professionals" to assist with ads and campaign strategy. What that ended up costing, who the hell knows?

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. isn't the $41 million a total from the start of the campaign?

So he probably never had all $41M at one time. In fact, the way he was buying up advertising early (remember those Texas ads) he probably never had more than $5-10 million at one time. Which is why he kept having those bat drives.

[dolstein]

5. Starbucks

NT

[Guaranteed]

6. It wasn't $41 million in cash

It was cash and pledged money. There are a lot of people out there like me who pledged money and never paid up.

So, now I'm going to pay up.

[THUNDER HANDS]

7. how do you 'pledge' money?

Did Dean have a telethon? :D

[Stephanie]

8. Sometimes they call you on the phone for a donation

And then if you agree they bill you. If you don't send the envelope back with a check in it they never get their money.

[displacedtexan]

10. Your pledge is legally binding.

You have to pay or they can take you to court. Charities have been doing this for years now.

[Carl Spackler]

13. Do you have a source for this?

Specifically that the $41 million includes pledges never received?

[Guaranteed]

17. Like I said, I never gave him the money I owed him.

Does that count as a source?

[Carl Spackler]

23. No - lots of people don't make good on pledges

But I am wondering if Dean went through $40 mil cash, or some greatly lesser amount that was actually received. Pledges to actual received cash could make for a huge difference.

[displacedtexan]

9. Orange hats and pizza?

It's amazing that he's spent that much money without winning. That's tanamount to *'s wasteful spending. That won't play well with voters, either.

[sistersofmercy]

18. Please don't...

rub this issue in the face of Dean supporters they obviously are all very stunned and hurting right now. It's entirely unfair, they've worked hard.

[WiseMen]

11. Dean on MSNBC: "Those People Don't Know How To Handle Money." He's Joking

right?

He was talking about Bush regime. Is the pot calling the kettle black!

[NashVegas]

14. And of Course, the Answer to That Is:

Why do you think Joe Trippi was fired?

[sistersofmercy]

15. Please don't rub it in...

show a little empathy.

[sistersofmercy]

12. I feel so bad for Dr Dean...

I'm so sorry this has happen. I'm sure Dean supporters can get the fundraising going again.

[WiseMen]

20. Sorry. I feel sad for supporters. Hope they find $10mill is a savings Act.

[sandnsea]

25. The buck stops here

I feel bad for Dean supporters, not Dean. It was his responsiblity to know what was happening to the money. We already have a President who blames underlings when things go wrong.

[Baclava]

16. Who throws money away on purpose?

...reminds me of a kid that trys to act cool, but wrecks his bike in front of a playground full of kids then jumps up and says, "I meant to do that."

[WiseMen]

21. Heard Trippi on MSNBC. Norville didn't ask him about it.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

19. check out Opensecrets.org

Go through some of his expenditures. Granted, these are not completely current, but you can see how his spending increased as he gained more money/momentum, and how frugal campaign management kinda went by the wayside. It's really too bad that this happened- perhaps better planning would have helped, but then again, who would have thought that he would have pulled in all of this money to begin with?

*sigh*

Budget management is easier when you know what you're dealing with- flow of money, flow of resources...

[WiseMen]

22. Whoa! Not a pretty sight. Did they have blinders on. Couldn't see danger

[genius]

24. The people in Orange County learned the meaning of "fiscally conservative"

when the county went bankrupt.