Dean's success forces Gephardt staff to take pay cuts

[pruner]

Democratic presidential hopeful Dick Gephardt, facing a huge cash disadvantage against front-runner Howard Dean, has asked his senior staff to take a pay cut.

"We want to make sure we spend the bulk of our resources in the early states on the ground and on the air," said campaign manager Steve Murphy. "This is an effort to make sure we meet those goals."

The news came one day after Dean dealt Gephardt's campaign a huge blow by sealing endorsements from two major unions - the Service Employees International Union, with 1.6 million members, and the 1.5 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union.

<snip>

Murphy would not say how many employees took a pay cut nor did he reveal the size of the reductions. He said the campaign has stuck to its budget, including meeting fund-raising goals.

But the budget did not take into account that Dean would raise $25 million by the fall, enough to reject taxpayer money and the spending limits that go with it.

<snip>

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-pelosi-abortion,0,722567.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines (at the bottom)

[robsul82]

1. Well...*cough*...

Sucks, I suppose.

Later.

RJS

[meegbear]

2. Good for them ...

shows they care about their candidate.

[Hep]

17. Can't argue with you there.

Good for them.

[Khephra]

3. Looks like Gephardt is going the way of Lieberman

Maybe these candidates should try figuring out why Dean is drawing in people and money instead of attacking him?

[Cocoa]

4. Dean has been looking better to me lately

I've figured out what to do, I have to consciously get rid of the sour feeling I get from some of his supporters, then Dean doesn't look nearly so bad.

With Clark, they cooled it a bit from their earlier obnoxiousness, but not so with the Dean supporters, so I have to make an effort.

[Larkspur]

7. I never base my choice of candidates on their followers

I base it on the candidate him/herself.

I base my dislike of Gen. Clark on Clark himself, not on his supporters.

When you vote in the primary, you vote for the candidate, not the candidates followers.

[Cocoa]

8. that is my point

I realize that the disgust that some of Dean's supporters cause me to feel should not cloud my judgement.

But I have to make an effort to counter that puking feeling I get.

[Le Taz Hot]

12. Could you amend your statement

to read *a few* Dean supporters? There are hundreds here on DU, including myself, who do not fit into that obnoxious category. Most of us opt out of candidate bashing threads and privately admonish those who do. I'd appreciate that the next time you want to paint all Dean supporters with the same broad stroke. Thank you.

[Cocoa]

14. done

you're absolutely right, it's only a few of his supporters.

And who knows, maybe those few aren't really Dean supporters, they're just plants to make Dean look like the candidate of total pricks. :shrug:

[Hep]

18. Possibly

but I just happen to be a total prick sometimes. Sorry about that.

[jburton]

5. What I wanna know

How much were these staffers making in the first place?

I've worked on campaigns before that were very wreckless on staff spending, especially if they had a "Big Name" on staff.

[pruner]

9. there was an article in the NY Times a few weeks ago…

that discussed how much the campaign manager's made.

Lieberman's was the highest paid, by a very wide margin (almost twice as much as Kerry's manager, who was #2).

Trippi is working for free, but his consulting firm gets a commission on all the ad buys they do.

[CMT]

6. well if the shoe were on the other foot

I hope the Dean people would do the same. I consider it a good sign that they really believe in Gep if they are willing to do this.

[Larkspur]

10. The difference is that Dean is a tightwad and Gephardt isn't

Dean spent more $ in the 3rd quarter than the others and still has more cash on hand than Kerry, the 2nd money leader. Gephardt spent more than he took in the 3rd quarter and still struggles in Iowa, his must win state. Dean on the other hand is leading in double digits in NH and is competing with Gephardt in Iowa. Dean also leads in AZ, NM, and MI. Looks like Dean knows how to get more bang for his buck than Gephardt does.

[jburton]

15. Don't forget the low overhead

Dean has little of the traditional "overhead costs" like rubber chicken dinner catering for events.

He is a cheapskate, and I love it!

[HFishbine]

11. SEE!!!

Dean is bad for the economy too!

[slinkerwink]

13. lol....

but Dean is creating more jobs within his campaign AND has more cash on hand than any of the other candidates! He sure knows his finances well.

[dfong63]

16. is it a sure thing?

The news came one day after Dean dealt Gephardt's campaign a huge blow by sealing endorsements from two major unions - the Service Employees International Union, with 1.6 million members, and the 1.5 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union.

is it true that Dean has "sealed" the AFSCME endorsement? the news yesterday did not say that they were going to endorse for sure, it just said they wanted SEIU to delay their announcement until AFSCME could vote on their own pick.