HotShot Blog

This isn't a "Dean is crazy" story, so the media won't report it, but here's an awesome blurb from the political world:

The Democratic National Committee raised more than $51M in 2005, a record for an off-year and twenty percent higher than the comparable period in 2003.

Dean's been kicking ass and taking names. The Democratic party has never raised so much money in an off-year, even when Clinton rented out the Lincoln bedroom (which incidentally Bush does as well now) or when Democrats controlled Congress and took millions in lobbyist money.

Better yet, this $51 million is clean money from small donors, not special interests seeking favors. Where the previous DNC chairman bent over backwards to woo big dollar donations, Dean has in fact gone out of his way to show them the finger. Case in point:

William W. Batoff, a Philadelphia real estate developer and longtime Democratic fund-raiser who backed President Bush in 2000 and 2004...claims he will help fund the Dems' congressional efforts but will boycott the national committee while Dean reigns.

In order to build a long term sustainable progressive infrastructure, the Democratic party cannot rely on donations from business interests that are fundamentally hostile to the values of the party. As we learned in the Clinton years, the temporary gains from passing corporate interest legislation (ex NAFTA) are more than offset by the long term damage to the party's public standing (ex the landslide defeat in 1994).

This is why Dean's revamping of party fundraising is so important. The $51 million raised this year is money that will pour in year after year whether or not Democrats are in power, as long as the Democrats stand up for their core values. It is incentive to do what they should be doing, not what a bigtime lobbyist wants them to do.

Of course, the Republicans will continue to vastly outraise the Democrats. They are men of business, and being in power they are exceedingly efficient at selling access and influence. But the Democrats don't need to outraise the GOP. They simply need to raise enough to spread their message everywhere. $51 million will go a long way toward that.