I said shut up, Donna...

...and I meant it.

Fournier updates his latest attack on John Kerry...

WASHINGTON - Under friendly fire, Sen. John Kerry likely will donate a substantial portion of his excess presidential campaign cash to help elect Democratic candidates in 2005 and 2006, advisers said Thursday.

That's right, The money will likely be gone long before 2008. And there probably won't be as much as you thought...

According to the two officials familiar with Kerry's account:

_ He has $16 million left from the primaries.

_ Some $4 million to $5 million of that will be transferred to a legal and compliance fund to help pay for the costs of fighting or resolving 16 Federal Election Commission complaints pending against Kerry. That legal fund already has $8 million.

_ Once the transfer is made and all primary season bills are paid, Kerry will have just shy of $10 million in his primary campaign account.

So he'll have some money left in an account that he was prohibited from using during the general election campaign, and he'll likely spread it around, which is hardly surprising, given his exemplary and unprecedented support for the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates, support which prompted this comment...

DNC spokesman Jano Cabrera said that was the largest contribution the DNC has ever received, and the first from a presidential primary campaign.

"With this donation, the campaign more than fulfilled its commitment to our general election plan," he said.

But some people are never satisfied...

"They're doing this now because they're being forced to, not because they want to," said Democratic consultant Donna Brazile, the most vocal critic of Kerry's spending. "They still don't have a defense for why they hung on to the money."

Actually, Brazile seems to be the only vocal critic of Kerry's spending, since Fournier can't seem to get anyone else on the record. Which, of course, prompts some questions.

Hey, Donna, you managed Gore 2000. What was your defense for ending up with $6.5 million in the bank and sitting on it for four years? Might that have been used to drum up a few hundred votes in Florida? Or to pick up a House seat or two in 2002? Or something?

Of course, there's no good answer to my questions, because Donna is well down the path to indefensible.

Pessimist at the Left Coaster has alternate advice for Ms. Brazile, and it's pretty good advice at that...

Donna, why don't you go have a nice chat with Ed Gillespie like you did before the primary season got going? Maybe he'll offer you a new job. That would be good, because you aren't very good at the one you have. Just remember - do as well for them as you did for us.

So sure, Donna, chat away with Ed, but when a reporter calls, just shut up.