Howard Dean is a flawed candidate, as his campaign is a flawed campaign. Howard Dean's flaw is not his gaffs or temper. If he really had a bad temper or made more than the average amount of gaffs, we would know it from the thousands of hours of television appearances as Governor of Vermont for 11 years, and we would hear about it from the millions of citizens from Vermont. Howard Dean has the same flaw as his campaign: he wants to change too much too quickly. He wants to change the U.S.'s foreign policy, give the Democratic Party back its fire, and let people decide government policy rather than special interest money decide it.
Well, the U.S. foreign policy is changing: the administration is heading back to the U.N. for the fourth time since the invasion of Iraq to ask for help. The Democratic Party has its fire back: listen to the stump speeches of John Kerry, Wesley Clark, or John Edwards.
But Howard Dean is the only candidate who can break Americas' politician's addiction to soft money. And for this reason alone he should be given the support of the great American people and the media.
"John Kerry - On The Issues" states: "George W. Bush has chosen tax cuts for the wealthy and special favors for special interests over our economic future."
But John Kerry has raised close to $500,000 from law firms in the Boston area. He has raised $1.9 million for his own Political Action Committee, the "Citizen Soldier Fund," to skirt campaign finance laws.
John Edwards' PAC, "New American Optimists" has raised $4,617,824 of unrestricted money. In March 2003, employees of Turner & Associates, a law firm in Little Rock, Ark., gave Edwards campaign contributions that appear to have been illegal. One Turner clerk who gave Edwards $2,000 told the Washington Post that the firm's principal, Tab Turner, "asked for people to support Edwards" and assured them that "he would reimburse us." Another clerk affirmed that she had given Edwards $2,000 on the understanding that Turner would reimburse her. Such reimbursements are illegal because they circumvent the $2,000 limit.
As of September 2003, 74% of George Bush's fundraiser have given the limit of $2,000, and only 11% gave less than $200. For Kerry, 53% of his donors have given the maximum $2,000, and only 14% gave less than $200. 67% of Edwards' donors gave the full $2,000, and only 4% gave less than $200.
There a lot of rich people who are supporting these candidacies, and it will be hard to fight special interest demands when these people call in their favors.
Only Howard Dean can beat special interest groups. 13% of his donations gave the maxium $2,000. The majority of his contributors, 53%, were regular people, who gave small, under $200, donations. His average donation is under $100