> $18 million (Gephardt) + $17 million (Lieberman) + $42 million (Dean)
> + $5 million (Kucinich) + $22 million (Edwards) + $600,000 (Sharpton)
> = $104,600,000 = wasted dollars of the Democratic losers and their
> contributors who do not get a single vote in the general election.
Now that is really silly. You might as well say that every baseball team that doesn't win a pennant or every football team that doesn't get into the Super Bowl has wasted its money.
Your proposal is that the candidates for the Democratic nomination should try to run for President by trying to get the GP nomination, instead? The reason Democratic campaigns cost more than GP ones is largely, I think, that the former use TV commercials. If anyone could figure out a way of running a campaign for votes among the electorate at large -- a campaign that is directed at actually winning enough electoral votes to win the Presidency (unlike Ralph's pretend campaigns, which, let's say it once more <sigh>, are spoiler efforts) -- without using TV, I'm sure candidates of all parties would be eager to adopt it. Raising all that money is a real pain, and I don't think any candidate enjoys doing it. (Well, Shrub seems to, because all he has to do is hob-nob with his plutocratic pals.)
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe. -- Attr. to Alfonso the Wise, King of Castile