The Money Primary

This really just inside baseball political news, and as expected Hillary broke all the records with about 26 mil. in donations and 10 mil left from her Senate purse what is not disclosed is what is primary election and general election donations. The difference is the general funds have to be set aside and returned the donors if the candidate does not win the primary and she was collecting both. Obama did well also predicting over 20mil again the split is not made clear between the funds and John Pretty Pony reports about 13mil plenty for a strong campaign. The rest of the DNC candidates reported less than 10mil, still enough to be heard, though and no Freds or Newts on hold.

On the GOP side, my man Mitt whipped all of them with 20mil in donations for the primary run alone, and 2.3mil of his own money as a loan to build initial infrastructure to raise money and campaign. This means he has more available for the primary than any of the others, Mitt is a money man and this will be spent wisely as the campaigns switch into high gear. Rudy did well at 15mil 10 of that in March alone as he was slower to organize and Sen. McCain at 12.5mil as the supposed front runner of the MSM is dead and dieing fast though that is enough to raise a ruckus which he will do. The rest of the field is under 10mil with Newt, running a very unconventional campaign, and Fred Thompson also with huge popularity in the GOP as yet undeclared/declared. They are a big factor if they get in.

Hillary's main problem is she also leads in unfavorability polls with half of voters saying they would never vote for her including 17% of her own party. Be honest, if she was not married to Bill Clinton she would be a typical overachieving housewife/attorney doing very well but not this well. The only GOP candidate to rival her in this area is Newt Gingrich with a high national unfavorability rating. The difference is Newt has positions, very clear ones, on all the issues and not just an opinion but detailed solutions and clear goals for the future and it ain't socialism.

I know Hugh Hewitt is trying to arrange an hour long conversation between Newt, Mitt and Rudy for his radio show in the very near future, Newt was all up for it, I know Mitt will be as well, Rudy will probably as well. That will be an hour of radio worth listening to. I love Newt's proposals for a debate format, nine ninety minute, only time keeper moderated, conversations between the presidential candidates, think Lincoln vs. Douglas, in the last nine weeks leading to the general election. I like it so much the primary contenders should sit down at a round table for some timed but unmoderated conversations once a week or couple weeks, perhaps on Cspan, throughout the season. Face to face conversations on the issues not made for consultants "debates" would help seperate the wheat from the chaff. Funny thing is, I have read bloggers on both sides of the aisle that are far more articulate in the issues than the pols they support. Somehow I doubt the Democrats would agree to that level of exposure of their eurosocialist, multi-cultural trainwreck of a plan for America, in otherwords, the end of America as Washington, Lincoln and Reagan dreamed it could and can be.

Sorry, no time to fill in the hotlinks yet but I will, dedicated webusers know where to go.