We have one more divorce among Republican presidential candidates: The media have abandoned John McCain.
John Connally raised $11 million, then a huge sum, for his presidential run in 1980, and won only one Republican delegate. (NR senior editor Jeffrey Hart joked that he would have voted for Connally for half that.) So money isn’t everything in politics; message and luck also pay their dues. But the money primary is interesting to watch, quite apart from what the candidates do with their gains. The first quarter of 2007 gave two ominous messages. One was to Hillary Clinton, who, despite being wife of Bill, first woman, and holder of a million chits, could not out-raise Barack Obama. Worse, Obama tapped 100,000 donors to Clinton’s 50,000. Fresh trumps old, black trumps female, and anti-war trumps even pro-war votes that have been repudiated. The other ominous message was for the GOP. Giving to Democratic hopefuls topped $70 million, while the Republicans hovered at $54 million. Tsunami time, gentlemen.
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