Nation-Building >> LaRouche Who? | return to front page

While registering my truck at the Galveston county tax-assessor's office, there was a man seated at a table outside in the 100-plus heat, with a large sign against the Iraq War. Intrigued, I paused to investigate, and saw a prominent banner: LaRouche in 2004.

Who? I'd never heard of Lyndon LaRouche Jr. prior to seeing this lone tabler (who insisted that Howard Dean was intent on nuking Iran. End of conversation). There hasn't been any mention whatsoever of LaRouche in the political media, which ordinarily would not be surprising, except for the fact that the LaRouche campaign has some astounding fundraising claims:

With the results of the latest quarter, LaRouche has dropped to number two in total number of individual contributions, with a total of 12,464 to his campaign, according to the FEC. Only Howard Dean, whose campaign was based on Internet fundraising, ranks higher, with 14,424 individual contributions. Both top candidates John Kerry and John Edwards, who have 11,622 and 10,001 respectively, and far surpass the others, according to the FEC figures.

LaRouche's total amount of money raised during the campaign currently stands at $4,564,654 -- which places him sixth among the ten declared major candidates, according to FEC figures. Despite a coordinated press blackout against him, LaRouche's monies raised are substantially larger than those raised by Bob Graham, Dennis Kucinich, Carol Moseley-Braun, and Al Sharpton.

If this is true, then this guy has almost as many contributors as Dean? The average donation works out to about $360 (I'm a little suspicious of all the 4s, 5s, and 6s in his stated totals.) How can this guy be drawing in any cash with no publicity?

It would be interesting to see how Kucinich voters would react to LaRouche's platform of impeaching Cheney. They'd probably dismiss him as "unelectable" - unaware of the irony.

Still, I am concerned that a candidate who (allegedly) has raised $4.5 million has not received an iota of press coverage. At the very least, LaRouche deserved a place next to Mosely-Braun and Kucinich at the various Democratic debate events that have occurred thus far (which would especially be to our and Dean's benefit, to help show the Joe Liebermans what "unelectable" really looks like). I don't like the media anointment process, and LaRouche certainly deserves to air his ideas in the interest of open dialouge.

UPDATE: When I'm wrong, I'm flamboyantly so. This guy is a nut job. Certifiably. Keep him the hell away from all debates!!! Media: 1. Aziz: 0. Thank you for not polluting the airwaves with these conspiranoid ravings.