Topic: Ron Paul
Money vs. Media - Why Ron Paul is King of Cash and Not Winning A look at who really makes a candidate.by J Monroe
(libertarian)
Saturday, February 2, 2008
I was watching Tucker yesterday and the discussion came up as to whether the amount of fundraising dollars raised has an impact on the amount of votes you get. The conventional wisdom says that fundraising dollars = votes, but this election year is tossing that out the window. Here is the breakdown of what each candidate brought in for the 4th quarter of 2007. There are few things here that fascinate me:
1) Ron Paul had the biggest haul of all the GOP nominees for the 4Q, with the vast majority of those contributions coming from individual contributors sending in small amounts. He also has more cash on hand than any other GOP candidate, and aside from Mitt Romney is the only candidate on either side running completely in the black.
2) John McCain may be the frontrunner (for now), but his campaign is seriously in the red. He has taken out a $4 mil loan to finance his campaign, and has run up on hell of a credit card bill. How is he going to pay all that back?
3) Mike Huckabee has more cash on hand than McCain.
4) Mitt Romney has spent a crapload of money (he's down from $9.2 million cash on hand after 3Q to $2.4 million after 4Q) but still doesn't have much of a foothold in the American consciousness.
So what doMcCain and Huckabee have that Paul and Romney don't? Mainstream media support! Free advertising! I include Huckabee in that because, really, if he hadn't become a media darling after Iowa he'd be long gone by now.
It seems that the mainstream media has become the kingmaker now for Presidential candidates. It doesn't matter how much money you raise, how many delegates you have, or how many debates you win. All that seems to matter nowadays is that the news outlets love you, and for some reason they've always loved McCain. By all rights McCain should have had to bow out by now, but since the media keeps him in the spotlight he's still going strong and is indeed the frontrunner now. All this from a man who can't get enough fundraising support to run his campaign. Little scary. isn't it?
Its not just an issue for Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, or the GOP in general, the Democrats feel it too. As everyone is aware John Edwards withdrew his bid this week after placing a distant third in every contest so far. I for one am surprised that Edwards did so poorly seeing as he had a decent amount of money, a strong base of supporters, and a message that appealed to Democrats. Unfortunately for Edwards, he was doomed in running against the first viable female candidate and the first viable black candidate. Hard to compete with that media-wise. What amazes me is that Edwards could be in Obama's position right now, but the media decided Obama made for better TV. Guess a rags-to-riches story complete with a wife fighting cancer was no match for Obama being the "black candidate". Hell, the media has even tossed aside Clinton for Obama.
I can understand the media getting behind Obama, despite everyone thinking he came out of nowhere the numbers show he had quite a bit of money and support before Iowa. Winning the caucus though made him a household name. He also doesn't have the baggage of Clinton and he appeals to a wider range of Democrats. He didn't need the media to keep him afloat, but it certainly hasn't hurt him. McCain on the other hand is still in the race solely because the media boosts him every chance they get. Even with the loan and credit cards his campaign is running on fumes money-wise, so the only way he can get exposure now is that free advertising the media keeps bestowing on him.
I would like to propose a few amendments to the McCainFeingold Act; 1) if you have to take out a loan to finance your campaign, you have to withdraw you bid. 2) the media should be held to the same standards as other corporations as far as advertising a candidate How's that for campaign finance reform?
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The views expressed in this
article are those of J Monroe only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. J Monroe is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Looking at conventional wisdom in regards to the concept "the one who raises the most money usually wins". One needs to ask "How was the money used?" Typically, it was used to purchases media space. Your assessment was spot-on. McCain doesn't need campaign money if he gets his media exposure for free.
It's obvious the media were alarmed early on with the sudden rise and novelty of the outsider Ron Paul.
They also knew Rudy, Romney and McCain offered no pretense to push Dr. Paul off the news pages. They were front runners and had spent their novelty.
So the media handpicked Huckabee to be the "Underdog Rising" story to drown out Ron Paul and keep him at bay - out of the mass consciousness.
The polls soon echo the media!
This was most obvious in Iowa with it's entrenched and corrupt Republican leadership machine working hand in hand with the media.
Next the media resurrected "Insane" McCain (100 years of war my friends) to create a comeback story and keep the public mind occupied once again.
Without any financial staying power they gave him all the media time he wanted and more - talking heads pushed his candidacy at every opportunity.
If the media touted Ron Paul as a true American patriot and a throwback to the venerated leaders of yesteryear he would have the nomination locked up by now.
What a winning story - "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" would of only been the first act.
Can anyone doubt that?
Kind of scary when you think about it. Your friends, family and neighbors all march to the beat of the "Stepford Wives" when it comes to politics. Automatons tuned to the TV for instuctions.
Currently, Ron Paul is the only candidate with no debt.
How candidates spend money on campaign reflects how they spend money once they become a president. With the debt the U.S. is in, we need a predident that brings surplus to the nation. Ron Paul is the only candidate that convinces me to fit the bill.
Posted By: Nathan from TN
Date: 2008-02-07 19:52:19
"The people which once bestowed imperium, fasces, legions, everything, now foregoes such activities and has but two passionate desires: bread and circus games."
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