Dean will not accept public funding (live on CNN & Webcast Noonish ET)

Just leaked from MSNBC.

Watch it the announcement live here at noon:

http://blog.deanforamerica.com/

Or check in on MSNBC. They sounded like they might go live to the announcement.

It's only bad news if you are a fan of publically financed campaigns. There are far less rules involved when a candidate doesn't accept gov't money. Bush won't accept either so the spending limits are off for both sides (if Dean wins the nomination).

just curious, I was watching some political show on PBS last night and this lady says that Dean might come close to matching Bush in fundraising.

doncha think?

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It'll be on TV.

Arnold wasn't going to run for governor of California, either.

He obviously knew how this vote would turn out but it takes the burden off of him for rejecting public funding and at the same time places the responsiblity on his supporters for financially sticking it out.

How many Americans even know that we have matching campaign funds? Watch for the cynical GOP operatives on CNN/CNBC/Faux/et al/ad nauseum to make a great balleyhoo about how Dean is a hypocrite, a flip-flopper, whatever, as they try to prop up their paper man (*bush). Then it will all fade.

(*the authenticity of the bush presidency is disputed)

Watch the webcast here. Governor Dean, along with supporters from across the country, is announcing the results of the Vote at noon ET.

snip....

And CNN has just announced that they will broadcast the event live. Thanks to Paul from California for calling with the update.

http://blog.deanforamerica.com/

Webstream Live from Burlington
I'm sitting in a beautifully wood-paneled room at the Billings Student Center at the University of Vermont in Burlington. About 40 people are gathered in chairs before a podium flanked by American flags. The television crews and journalists are crammed at the back of the room.

The excitement and sense of anticipation is palpable as we wait for the Governor to enter the room. The webstream is now live. Join us for this historic announcement.

CNN has just announced that they will broadcast the event live. Thanks to Paul from California for calling with the update.

http://blog.deanforamerica.com/

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The video link is crashing on me (dial up)

the weblink keeps crashing on me too.

.

out.

85-15 in favor of opting out. Supporters have pledged or donated $5 million in the past two days.

MY first time to contribut to a candidate .... well worth the cash wish I had more but we can do this. What is democarcy worth??? I would say more precious than any gift you could receive.
GO DEAN :kick:

and Dean can now say he has a people financed campaign. A very powerful and smart move, I believe. Of course, I put my $ where my mouth is too. Wonder if they will say how much was pledged....

squeeze it out. so lets see about 50 million voted for gore last election. if we make a one time donation of 25 bucks, dean can raise, damn how much money is that.

I can't blame Dean though. If you got the money, then spend it. It's just that the continual spiral towards candidates being bought by special interests is ongoing.

WHEN IN THE Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

Two centuries ago, our founders brought into this world a new republic. This republic brought to the world a new era of self-government. It ensured the rights of the citizenry and gave them the vote to elect representatives.

Throughout this nation’s history, the American people have struggled to keep their rights and make their government work for them. We have seen the populists, progressives, women, labor, and civil rights movements.

Today our government has become overrun by special interests. Working with President George Bush, they have turned our government into a system that works for the profit of the few not the benefit of the many.

They have in the last two elections flooded our politics with over 5.1 billion dollars in contributions.

They have walked into the Vice-president’s office and written energy legislation that keeps us shackled to fossil fuels.

They have written health care legislation denying access and affordability, and keeping prescriptions away from seniors.

They have purposely misled this nation into an unnecessary war.

WE, therefore, the architects and builders of Dean for
America, appealing to the Wise Judgment of the American people on our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these United States, solemnly Publish and Declare, the People of these United States are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT OF SPECIAL INTERESTS and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT CITIZENS, they have full Power to participate, deliberate, pursue the common good, protect their own interest from corruption, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT CITIZENS may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, we mutually pledge to each other to write letters, knock on doors, organize our neighbors, self- fund this effort, and vote.

Signed,

Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
Lanya Shapiro
Aldon Hynes
Kim Hynes
Jasper Hendricks
Peng Her
Susan Hudgens
Jerome Wiley


:bounce:

It's just beautiful!

Thanks!

and dropped another $25 in the bucket to show my support.

Of course, reading this on Dean's website didn't hurt either:

WE, therefore, the architects and builders of Dean for
America, appealing to the Wise Judgment of the American people on our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these United States, solemnly Publish and Declare, the People of these United States are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT OF SPECIAL INTERESTS and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT CITIZENS, they have full Power to participate, deliberate, pursue the common good, protect their own interest from corruption, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT CITIZENS may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, we mutually pledge to each other to write letters, knock on doors, organize our neighbors, self- fund this effort, and vote.

Signed,

Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
Lanya Shapiro
Aldon Hynes
Kim Hynes
Jasper Hendricks
Peng Her
Susan Hudgens
Jerome Wiley

I'm not sure what to make of this either way.

The following is the text of an email that is being sent this evening from Governor Dean to all 484,000 members of our campaign.

I am writing to place the most important decision of this campaign in your hands. We need to choose whether we will decline federal matching funds or accept them.

Our political system is drowning in a flood of large corporate interest money. The pens that sign the checks of the lobbyists in Washington are the same pens that write our legislation.

Oil corporations write energy laws in the Vice-President’s office. The pharmaceutical industry drafts our Medicare laws. Billions of dollars worth of contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan are awarded to Bush contributors. For the Republican primary election, even though he has no opponent, George Bush is raising $200 million from large corporate interests.

The Bush campaign is selling our democracy so they can crush their Democratic opponent.

We are building the only campaign that can stop this outrage. Our campaign has not been talk about future reform, it has been the action of real reform. Through hundreds of thousands of donations averaging $77, the impossible is happening -- ordinary Americans are poised to overpower the largest mass of special interest money our nation has ever seen.

More: http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/002128.html

...we don't want to go to a gunfight unarmed and blindfolded. Dean is readying his campaign to take on the Bush machine, which to date, has mowed all opposition down under a flood of special interest money, corporate corruption and media complicity. To remove Bush from power, we're going to need to not be hobbled.

We cannot afford to give Bush this kind of an advantage:


The Basics of Spending Caps

Coupled with these matching funds are limits, laid out by the federal government, on the amount of money a campaign can spend in a given state and in the primary season as a whole. For the purposes of the Federal Election Committee the primary season lasts from January 2003 until the candidate is named at the Democratic National Convention in Boston during the last week of July, 2004.

During this whole period a candidate can spend a total of $44.6 million.
From the day the campaign spends the last dollar of this $44.6 million—be it in March or in late July—the campaign CAN NOT spend a single dollar more until the Convention.

I think this was the big announcement that he was planning on giving last Wednesday (the one that some DUers learned about from the email the Dean campaign sent out), but was pushed back until now because of the Confederate flag debacle.

We had until Friday night to vote. The announcement you speak of was the Service Employees International Union endorsement which was pushed back a week to coordinate with the announcement of the AFSCME endorsement - and none of the above had a thing to do with the supposed "Confederate flag debacle".

http://timesargus.nybor.com/Local/Story/61946.html

March 8, 2003

He promised to make it an issue in the Democratic primaries if any of his rivals decide to skip public financing, as President Bush did en route to winning the Republican nomination in 2000.

“It will be a huge issue,” Dean said. “I think most Democrats believe in campaign finance reform.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Campaign-finance reform is just something I believe in." Back in March, Dean warned fellow Democrats against abandoning the limits. "It will be a huge issue ... because I think most Democrats believe in campaign finance reform."


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What about the earlier promise to make a "huge issue" if any of his rivals opted out of the public financing system? Dean said he didn't exactly remember saying that.

"I was asked very early on and I said I intend to take the match," Dean said. "I think what I said is that we weren't looking into that as an option."


--------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.deanindependents.org/archives/000026.html
July 15, 2003
CUIP Questionnaire

) How do you propose to protect the American people from this form of political corruption?


I believe that we need to dramatically strengthen campaign finance laws, including public financing of campaigns, so that the policymakers don't feel beholden to the special interests in the first place. Theodore Roosevelt said it best, "Every special interest is entitled to justice full, fair and complete....but not one is entitled to a vote in Congress, to a voice on the bench or to representation in any public office.


11. Please state your approach to campaign finance reform.


McCain-Feingold was a step in the right direction, but we have a long way to go. Real campaign finance reform involves doing three things at once: First, we must have public financing of campaigns. We still have the problem of rich candidates opting out of public financing to gain leverage over more modestly-financed candidates, and we need to address that because the more we can level the playing field, the healthier our democracy is. Second, we've got to have instant runoff voting to make sure that the candidate with the most support is elected. Third, we need a Court that will say that free speech and political contributions are not the same thing.



First, we must have public financing of campaigns. We still have the problem of rich candidates opting out of public financing to gain leverage over more modestly-financed candidates, and we need to address that because the more we can level the playing field, the healthier our democracy is.


First, we must have public financing of campaigns. We still have the problem of rich candidates opting out of public financing to gain leverage over more modestly-financed candidates, and we need to address that because the more we can level the playing field, the healthier our democracy is.



I guess ALL politicians are the same. I thought this one was different, now it is back to the trash heap to hold my nose and reconsider where to put my support. Thanks Dean.

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Just not the way he originally intended.

He found a way to to compete with b*sh's $200 million AND not sell out to special interests.

http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/002194.html#more

Go Dean!

without exception are limited to public financing and the spending limits that entails, Democrats (like Dean) must do whatever necessary to match the George Bushes of the political world dollar for dollar.

Perhaps you'd rather the Dean campaign be unable to place a single ad from about April through August, while the Republicans are pounding away at how wonderful they are, how great the economy is, how we're winning in Iraq, how terrible the Democrats are, how anyone who doesn't support Bush is a traitor? Those will undoubtedly be the themes of the campaign.

We want our guy, whoever the nominee is, to be able to campaign effectively. If Bush doesn't stick to public finance limits, I guess our man shouldn't either.

As disgusted as I am by our "system" of financing campaigns, I think it would be suicidal to stick to matching funds when you have proven to be a prodigious fundraiser in the face of the $200 million Bush juggernaut.

Your sarcasm is not appreciated or deserved. If you want to discuss the issue, fine. Try to do it with some civility.

share because there will be a lot of interest in him/her

That is probably why I am so disappointed. Dean was really pulling away from the rest of the pack in my mind. I was beginning to think that he wasn't your everyday politician. I understood his occasional slips of the tongue. Even the flag flap didn't cause me to throw him out of the lead. I figured he tried to express an idea and chose the wrong terms. I also understood when he said he didn't backpedal in the debate because he doesn't back down when attacked. Hell, I somewhat admired that trait, although it could have had a better issue behind it.


Oh well.

BURLINGTON-In a ceremony here today, Democratic presidential candidate Governor Howard Dean, M.D., announced that, following an overwhelming vote by supporters over the last two days, Dean for America would not accept public matching funds.

"Today by an 85-15 margin the people who made this campaign have voted to decline public financing. We support public financing, but the unabashed actions of this president to thwart our democratic processes with a flood of special interests money have us forced to abandon a broken system," Governor Dean said.

"Our campaign has not been talk of campaign finance reform, it has been actual reform. Over 200,000 people have given an average of $77 to bring us here and they have now overwhelmingly refused to be intimidated by George Bush and his cronies," Dean added

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Tell me why this is a bad thing?

The problem I have, as stated above, is how strongly he took the position against opting out. That and his threat to use the issue against anyone who did. Now, when it suits him, he does a transparent attempt to pass off responsibilities for a decision and changes his stance 180 degrees.

Was his original position flawed? Was he so shortsighted that he didn't think Bush could raise money? What has changed that could not have been forseen? Does this show a lack of planning? It raises questions in my mind. I don't take my vote lightly and I have been deliberating on a candidate for some time. This decision, and the way he is trying to protect himself from the claim of flip-flopping, is what bothers me. That and the fact that I had almost decided to back him and now have to reconsider. I guess I don't like having to start over.

As for the money, I will watch where it comes from. I have doubts as to whether he will refuse corporate and special interest money. It looks more like politics as usual. I guess I was being to idealistic.

Is that Dean had no idea HE could raise this much money. How could he have known how successful the People Powered Howard campaign would be back at the beginning.

He isn't going back on his word and taking special interest money in bags. He is the ultimate grass roots candidate, making millions of dollars one small donor at a time.

Would you have him commit political suicide and stick to a losing strategy or would you rather have his campaign evolve and adapt as circumstances warrant? The bottom line is that the canddiate with the most money to tackle the Bush juggernaut has the best chance of winning. That is the unfortunate reality of the political canvas. Dean is adapting to his own massive success among the average person, and I personally admire him for it.

Nothing will stop us now!

I agree that money wins elections. Those who are hailing this move would do well to ponder how money corrupts elections.

themselves to 45million in the face of a 200million juggernaut.