ELECTION 08 - FOLLOW THE MONEY AND THE MONEY IS NOT WINNING
NOTE - This Article Has Been Picked Up At The CNN Website Scan to the bottom of the page and click on, "From The Blogs."
There are many in politics and the media who believe, "he who has the money, wins the election." This idea is key to the fixation that many political pundits and media types have on following the spending and fund raising of especially Presidential candidates. Granted in today's high dollar campaigns it does take a considerable amount of money to mount a campaign. But the idea that the most money wins elections equates to the idea that elections can be bought.
Yet despite this idea if the money is followed for the 2008 election, the money is not winning. In both the Republican and Democrat races for the White House the money leaders are not the leaders in the polls. On the GOP side Mitt Romney is the clear money leader. Though he has not received the largest amount of money through fund raising, he has infused his campaign with millions from his personal fortune placing his war chest well above his GOP rivals.
On the Democrat side of the 08 coin, though coming in second by a small percentage in fund raising last quarter, Barak Obama has lead all other Democrat candidates in the total amount of money raised for his campaign. In both instances both Romney and Obama despite their massive amount of spending have not turned the dollars into a lead in the polls.
Romney is leading in New Hampshire but that is not a surprise since it was expected from a Northeastern former Republican Governor. In South Carolina Romney has purchased and is running a massive media blitz campaign that consists of television, radio and print yet he is in a virtual three way tie with Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani who have spent far less than Romney.
Add to that the fact that McCain is still hanging on even though his fund raising has been dismal at best and the clear picture here is that dollars still do not win elections. Additionally Ron Paul announced an unexpected 5 million dollars last quarter and in a Internet blitz on Monday November fifth in honor of Guy Fawkes day, (the Brit who tried to blow up Parliament and kill King James I in 1605), Paul who is spending large amounts in South Carolina and Florida is barley showing in the polls and then at about 1%.
In Florida, Romney is a a distant third as well as in California. He has a slight lead in Michigan and has a strong lead in Iowa where he has made more visits than any other GOP candidate. Nationally Romney is running a distant fourth behind Giuliani, Thompson and McCain. All of these figures are based on an average of all of the major polls as of November 4, 2007.
On the Democrat side of the coin Obama is double digits behind Hillary despite out raising her consistently since the beginning of the campaign. He does not hold a lead in any of the early primary states and in fact his numbers in each are similar to the national numbers which have him 23 points behind Hillary. Again this based on an average of all of the major polls.
The upside to all of this is that even in today's high dollar campaigns voters are not swayed by the amount of money a candidate raises or by the huge visibility that money brings as far as air time through political commercials. Voters still decide who they will vote for by what that candidate is saying and the issues. Voters base their backing of any candidate on how that candidate stands on issues that are important that voters family, daily living and on how the voter believes that the country should be.
Money helps but issues still decide elections and the candidate who has the best grasp of the issues with the answers that satisfy the mind of the American voter will be the candidate who emerges victorious through the primaries to receive either parties nomination. Once decided then whichever candidate convinces the American people that they can be the best leader in taking this nation the direction that most Americans wish the country to go will be the next President of The United States, regardless of the money!
Ken Taylor
There are many in politics and the media who believe, "he who has the money, wins the election." This idea is key to the fixation that many political pundits and media types have on following the spending and fund raising of especially Presidential candidates. Granted in today's high dollar campaigns it does take a considerable amount of money to mount a campaign. But the idea that the most money wins elections equates to the idea that elections can be bought.
Yet despite this idea if the money is followed for the 2008 election, the money is not winning. In both the Republican and Democrat races for the White House the money leaders are not the leaders in the polls. On the GOP side Mitt Romney is the clear money leader. Though he has not received the largest amount of money through fund raising, he has infused his campaign with millions from his personal fortune placing his war chest well above his GOP rivals.
On the Democrat side of the 08 coin, though coming in second by a small percentage in fund raising last quarter, Barak Obama has lead all other Democrat candidates in the total amount of money raised for his campaign. In both instances both Romney and Obama despite their massive amount of spending have not turned the dollars into a lead in the polls.
Romney is leading in New Hampshire but that is not a surprise since it was expected from a Northeastern former Republican Governor. In South Carolina Romney has purchased and is running a massive media blitz campaign that consists of television, radio and print yet he is in a virtual three way tie with Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani who have spent far less than Romney.
Add to that the fact that McCain is still hanging on even though his fund raising has been dismal at best and the clear picture here is that dollars still do not win elections. Additionally Ron Paul announced an unexpected 5 million dollars last quarter and in a Internet blitz on Monday November fifth in honor of Guy Fawkes day, (the Brit who tried to blow up Parliament and kill King James I in 1605), Paul who is spending large amounts in South Carolina and Florida is barley showing in the polls and then at about 1%.
In Florida, Romney is a a distant third as well as in California. He has a slight lead in Michigan and has a strong lead in Iowa where he has made more visits than any other GOP candidate. Nationally Romney is running a distant fourth behind Giuliani, Thompson and McCain. All of these figures are based on an average of all of the major polls as of November 4, 2007.
On the Democrat side of the coin Obama is double digits behind Hillary despite out raising her consistently since the beginning of the campaign. He does not hold a lead in any of the early primary states and in fact his numbers in each are similar to the national numbers which have him 23 points behind Hillary. Again this based on an average of all of the major polls.
The upside to all of this is that even in today's high dollar campaigns voters are not swayed by the amount of money a candidate raises or by the huge visibility that money brings as far as air time through political commercials. Voters still decide who they will vote for by what that candidate is saying and the issues. Voters base their backing of any candidate on how that candidate stands on issues that are important that voters family, daily living and on how the voter believes that the country should be.
Money helps but issues still decide elections and the candidate who has the best grasp of the issues with the answers that satisfy the mind of the American voter will be the candidate who emerges victorious through the primaries to receive either parties nomination. Once decided then whichever candidate convinces the American people that they can be the best leader in taking this nation the direction that most Americans wish the country to go will be the next President of The United States, regardless of the money!
Ken Taylor
posted by The Liberal Lie The Conservative Truth | 10:23 AM
3 Comments:
Congrats for getting picked up by CNN again Ken :-)
You are becoming a regular over there.
Congratulations again! Well deserved recognition for the conservative viewpoint.
Now if you can just get them to move to the right...
Agree with Robert. Congratulations, and help them move to the right! LOL! They need all the help they can get.
I really do wish candidates didn't have to come up with so much money in order to run, Ken. It only makes fraud all that more tempting by some!
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