Republican colleagues Texas Gov. George W. Bush, House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich of Ohio, former American Red Cross head Elizabeth Dole, conservative lobbyist Gary Bauer, and media magnate Steve Forbes, while publicly mum, are privately trolling for cash. The process happens so quickly that every candidate has to raise the maximum allowable to be spent in each state. Friends in deed. Besides, most campaigns are profligate. When I campaigned with Bob Dole, he didn't even know many of the staffers on his own campaign plane.
Small organizations work best.
But they haven't won many presidential elections lately. As GOP financial strategist Stan Huckaby says in his guide for presidential hopefuls, the candidate who has become the party's nominee in the past five elections was the one with the most cash at the end of the year before the election. And that amount has been steadily rising. It will be tougher for Democratic challenger Bill Bradley, especially if the former New Jersey senator wants to retain his reputation as a reform candidate. McCain, who bucked the party line by pushing campaign finance reform and taking on Big Tobacco, is in basically the same boat.