The New York Times has a fascinating graphic showing how much money each candidate has received and what percentage of it comes from PACs. Going by donations directly to campaigns, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are running first and second, followed (at some distance) by Ben Carson. The Republican candidates aren’t getting anywhere close to the direct campaign money that the two Democratic front runners are getting.
PACs are something else. Toast! far and away has received the most PAC money, and from this he still has more cash on hand than any other candidate. Were it not for the fact that nobody likes him, he’d be in great shape for a general election campaign. All that money seems to be plunging down a very deep drain.
However, if we’re looking at cash on hand from the donations pool, Clinton and Sanders are both in much better shape than their nearest Republican rival, who would be Ted Cruz.
Two candidates still running have received no PAC money at all. They are Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Also Hillary Clinton has had to spend considerably more than Sanders to stay ahead of him.
Poor Jeb (#’d).
The Beatles were right – ‘Money Can’t Buy Him Love.’
And wait until people get a closer gander at Teddy Cruz-ader. To know him, is to loathe him, so, his goose might also eventually be cooked too.
Couldn’t happen to a “nicer” psychopath!
Of all the jokes and failures of this election cycle, the biggest has to be the Jeb Bush SuperPAC Right to Rise,
I don’t know about that..Ben Carson as a legitimate candidate is in very close contention to claiming that accolade. Carson just doesn’t belong in the political arena..He’s a big joke,politically speaking.
“Carson just doesn’t belong in the political arena..”
Not just him, many of these Presidential campaigns are not serious endeavors, particularly on the right. They are there to sell books, increase speaking fees, line up TV bobblehead gigs, basically make money. Republicans turn everything into a business and the modern Republican Presidential campaign is no different, I’d say it borders on money laundering!
If the Iowa caucus is any indication of how Jeb! is going to fare in future primary contests.. He’d be wise to fold his tent now and save himself some embarrassment..
In the realm of if “fishes were wishes,” I usually catch snippets of NPT when I am feeding the critters. Yesterday, it was about this same subject, how much money each candidate has raised.
Sorry, something caused a premature post.
In the realm of if “fishes were wishes,†I usually catch snippets of NPR when I am feeding the critters. Yesterday, it was about this same subject, how much money each candidate has raised. For those of us inclined to take a jaundiced view, the preoccupation with campaign funds seems like a clear admission that the real election happens when the rich vote with their money. The rest is just for show.
After the election of 2008, NPR, among the best news sources we have to offer, seemed to have endless ruminating about the future of the Republican Party. It soon became tiresome and then, sadly absurd. Everyone laments the coverage of the horse race, but, do we even dare to imagine what might have been if the same amount of time were devoted to discussion of the issues and each candidate’s plans for carrying them out? This seems to prove the common observation that “Americans turn everything into a business.” The issues wouldn’t attract the same crowds as the horse race does. Americans like their thrills and entertainment, and we get what we want. The market delivers and the bottom lines fatten.
Back in the old days after the big war, we were brought up to be good citizens. That meant paying attention to what the government was doing and taking part in it. It meant voting, serving your country and caring about your fellow Americans. Industry promised a better life and capitalism promised a road up. I believed all of this, at least until I graduated from primary school. Some of these beliefs are still rattling around in my aging head.
But, all of these ideas are either discarded or reduced to mere emblems. They have shrunken to the cheesy flag lapel pin, the slogan on a candidate’s hat and myriad other empty baubles that we invest with a meaning that we have lost. As they were so fond of saying in Portlandia, “Put a bird on it.”