And naturally, I give Dean plenty of credit for the things he's done in jump-starting this campaign.

But if you had to pick one issue of campaign mechanics on which Dean might have taken a little more care, might it not have been... the money?

We all know the virtues of having raised his money from small operators -- and if we didn't, we've now certainly been well drilled in them. But how about a little more attention to the virtues of spending money on small operators? To be precise: paying them first.

It's a spin, to be sure. But it's a little too easy to make. Small money in the front door, big money out the back. You're practically forced to ask, given the fact that such a big deal was made of Joe Trippi taking no salary (as such), why the firm of Trippi/McMahon couldn't have been asked to wait another 30 days on some of that $400K? I mean, maybe T/M needed that money on account of Trippi's zealous personal chivalry. Or maybe that chivalry was easier to sell back on the farm because the firm's money was a hard lock.

I don't know. Just asking.

Can I imagine a scenario in which a perfectly honest person would be forced to pay the big boys first while the little guys twisted in the wind for a while? Sure. It happens every day, in every business.

But that's the point. It wasn't supposed to be like that. Or at least, not when the curtain was open.