Outside the Beltway

FEDERAL NUT SUBSIDIES

James Joyner · Sunday, January 4, 2004 · 3 comments

Say what you will about Howard Dean, at least he’s not charging you to run his campaign. MSNBC reports

Wesley Clark, the retired Army general from Arkansas who entered the race in September and months after his rivals, will get a $3.7 million payment, the largest amount of federal matching funds.

That’s followed by $3.6 million for Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, $3.4 million for North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and $3.1 million for Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt. Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich will get $736,000 and perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche will get $839,000.

Apparently, neither Al Sharpton nor Carol Mosely-Braun qualified. But Dennis Kucinich and Lyndon LaRouche, who have slightly less chance of getting elected president than Kevin Drum’s cats–and less business governing*–combine for over $900,000 of our money, which they will spend buying television ads that we don’t want to watch.

(Hat tip: Virginia Postrel)

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*Indeed, judging from a first look at their platform, I’d likely vote for them:

Inkblot and Jasmine have wisely decided to snooze away the new year, just as they did last year. They have no opinion about the November election as long as the winner promises to safeguard the nation’s cat food supply from mad fish disease.

Talk about your minimalist government.