This Trippi thing, combined with the money troubles is really freaking me out. I've been an incredibly consistent Dean backer. After Iowa, during the night of jumpers on dKos, I wrote post after post excoriating people for giving up. I counselled patience after Iowa, after the scream, after everything.
And last night I stayed up WAY too late trying to get people who were newly nervous to stick with Dean.
But the latest news about his fiscal troubles is finally getting to me.
We raised the most money in Democratic party history. It came from small donors but it built into a massive force for positive change. Despite setbacks, we were told that we would fight in all 50 states, regardless of what happened in NH and IA.
But now we find out that the Dean campaign essentially has $6 million left, $3 million of which needs to be paid off sometime in the next 2 weeks? He can't pay his staff? He spent the rest of his money in Iowa and New Hampshire in a last ditch struggle. Apparently there wasn't much to the "50 state strategy", huh?
And what did we supposedly spend all of that money on? ADS! The part of Dean's campaign that was so weak that even Kool-Aid drunk Deaniacs were angry about it. We spent $40 million on footage of Howard Dean sitting in an empty white room? Color me unimpressed.
And on top of that, we find out that some of the ad money was actually going to outgoing campaign manager Joe Trippi. To me that's the worst part. Trippi was profiting off the horrible ads he sold Dean while convincing him to run more and more of them. Forget the "Jedi" comparison, he's starting to remind more of Iago, whispering in Othello's ear to push him toward his tragic ending.
So I need to hear my candidate talking about this stuff. I need to find out where $40 million in the small donations that most of his supporters could ill-afford went. I need to find out what Dean is doing to staunch the flow. I need to hear some honest discussion about the reality of the 50-state strategy. Was it ever even actually considered, or was it a fundraising ploy? I need to find out how much Howard Dean knew about the campaign's financial troubles. And, most of all, I need to hear that he and Neel have worked out some financial and strategic plan that realistically keeps Dean's candidacy alive. I need to hear all of this soon. Like, tomorrow soon.
If I don't hear some explanation of this stuff soon, then this is one Deaniac that's shopping for a new anti-Kerry/anti-Bush candidate.
