Unfortunately, politics in America is completely and utterly dependent on cold, hard cash.

It's true.

Sad to say, but it's to the point where you pretty much need to buy your way into office.

The ability to raise money is a highly prized and necessary skill in politics.

Which is precisely why I think the Democratic National Committee chose Howard Dean as its chairman.

(On a personal level, that decision disappointed me. You see, Howard Dean was a columnist with one of the syndicates we use here at the Times-Union - Cagle. When Dean was named chairman of the DNC, Cagle dropped his column, something about an appearance of favoritism or conflict of interest. They replaced him with some Will Durst guy who I really don't like at all. I liked Dean's column. I fully disagreed with it most of the time but it offered balance to our opinion pages.)

Anyway, I guess the DNC thought Dean would be really dynamic. Remember how he stormed into the lead of the Democratic presidential primary after winning in New Hampshire?

And remember how successful he was at raising funds? He had that Internet fund-raising model going on and his campaign was flush with cash.

Later, however, "the scream" - after a third-place showing in Iowa - showed him to be just a little too flaky for a presidential candidate.

Ah, yes, all the better to make him the party chairman.

I have to say, when the Democrats announced that, I thought they were nuttier than Dean.

I thought they would have been a lot better off with somebody a little more moderate. Like a Tim Roemer or Evan Bayh or Bill Richardson.

And I would like to take this opportunity to say with a haughty arrogance and immodesty that I was absolutely right.

Frankly, I bet Republicans couldn't be happier.

As a fund-raiser, Dean is a flop.

Dean spoke in December, 2004 - a month after the re-election of W - on the future of the democratic party.

During that speech, he said this:

"The destination of the Democratic Party requires that it be financially viable, able to raise money not only from big donors but small contributors, not only through dinners and telephone solicitations and direct mail, but also through the Internet and person-to-person outreach."

I would tend to agree with that. But that's not what Dean has been able to do - at least so far.

A hundred days into his tenure Dean is in deep money trouble

According to the Federal Election Commission, the DNC raised $14.1 million in the first quarter of 2005, vs. the Republican National Committee's $32.3 million.

Dean drew about 20,000 new donors, while his rivals picked up 68,200. The bottom line: Republicans have $26.2 million in the bank vs. $7.2 million for the Dems.

It seems Dean is having a tough time connecting with major business donors - "the big donors" - as he referred to them in December 2004.

And after achieving money parity with the GOP in 2004, Democrats have fallen far behind.

Frankly, I think Dean is just a bit too caustic and off the wall for a lot of the "big donors." A lot of that big donor money is old money. I think people who have old money to give tend to be a little more moderate. I think Dean has scared them into sitting on their wallets - at least for a while.

I mean really. It's like Dean brushes his teeth with gunpowder every morning. He can't seem to keep from shooting off his mouth.

I realize that party chairmen by nature are partisan. But Dean is off the rails.

So much so that Demo big names like Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi have asked Dean to chill out a bit.

It didn't work.

Dean's running around in red states calling Republicans "evil", "braindead" and "corrupt."

He called the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference a "liar."

And there were his well-publicized remarks about House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

"I think DeLay ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence down there courtesy of the Texas taxpayers."

That might be a little premature to say since DeLay has not even been indicted, much less tried or convicted. I think most Americans get the "innocent until proven guilty" concept.

Apparently, Dean does not.

I guess the Democrats thought Dean's prowess as a fund-raiser and campaigner outweigh his propensity for hurling invective.

I think they were wrong about that.

But there is good news.

The Demos, for the most part, have been able to keep Dean's gaffes quiet by limiting his exposure.

He talks a lot at colleges and state party functions.

Don't look for him to share a national stage with his Republican counterpart, Ken Mehlman.

The Demos will never let that happen.

And unless Dean can fill in the fund-raising hole he's dug for the Demos, he might be in line for a career adjustment. [[In-content Ad]]