Here’s the irony: Any campaign that has raised a colossal amount of money early — and there are six such presidential campaigns — is in danger of falling prey to the temptation to waste it because the money is sitting right there. It will be difficult to resist claims on it by state and local organizations because they know just like everybody else that the bank account is overflowing. It’s human nature. The campaigns may not feel the pressure to economize. They may rent office space that’s just a little too expensive, hand out a few too many cell phones and computers, hire too many paid workers — the kinds of expenses that add up over time and slowly but surely drain even stuffed coffers.

Remember that once a person has given a campaign 2 grand, he’s given as much as he can give. That means he’s out of the picture from then on. If the campaign spends too many of those 2,000 contributions in April, May and June 2007, they won’t find that money all that easy to replace in December and January.