Sweets for Fund-Raising Cost Dean $7,000
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Forrest Gump remarked in the eponymously named 1994 movie that "life is like a box of chocolates — you never know what you're gonna get." Former Democratic frontrunner Howard Dean (search) might say the same.
Dean's presidential campaign spent at least $6,779 last year at Lake Champlain Chocolates (search), a premium truffle maker in Dean's home state of Vermont, on thank-you gifts for hosts of major fund-raising events. The Burlington-based chocolatier's specialties include the "Chocolates of Vermont," a box with a different bonbon for each season.
Dean outpaced his Democratic rivals in 2003, raising a record $41 million and spent nearly $32 million. But so far this year, the White House hopeful has faltered in the primary race, winning none of the nine states that have voted.
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Campaign finance reports for 2003 show the chocolate purchases were part of at least $281,000 in spending described by the campaign as "paraphernalia." Other spending in that category included $2,772 at Kentucky's Louisville Slugger Museum and $691 at the Cabot Creamery, a stop on the Vermont Cheese Trail.