I voted for Obama on Tsunami Tuesday, and I've commented here and there and tried to advocate my choice for the Democratic nominee, oftentimes having punching matches with others who post here whom I know are only trying to help our party grow. I'm confident that whomever comes out of the nominating fight, I will support their candidacy and also vote for them. But this diary is about a subconscious fear that I no longer have... a fear that concerns McCain quickly marching to the nomination while Obama and Clinton continue in what will be a long, protracted battle for our nomination.
This diary relies on only one news article here:
Post-Super Tuesday Fund-raising
and a bunch of great postings from others like
Hesiod
JDWolverton
and kos
writing about the primaries so far. Although the New York Times article is about the competition between the Clinton and Obama campaigns for online donations, it really implies something wonderful.
So, after a draining Super-Tuesday evening, when I finally tried to go to sleep, with California reporting 65% (sometime around 1:00am PST I guess) I had this bad feeling that suddenly we were going to be in a primary battle that could go on until June. Depending on who you ask, Tuesday's votes came out in a wash, with no one too far ahead nor too far behind. But in the Republican primary, McCain was the de facto favorite, only looking now to consolidate his nomination and bring together the rest of the delegates he needs to secure the nomination. Shouldn't take him too long unless the conservative wing just rises up for Huckabee. (By the way, anyone know where Romney's delegates went?)
This was keeping me up nights... what are we to do when the Republican'ts find their nominee and he spends the rest of the spring and summer fund-raising while we sit and wait for the next nail-biting primary or primary state that compensates for a lead built up by one of our nominees. I wasn't too worried about the message wars. With primaries still going on, both sides would be able to get out their talking points and I would think interest on the Democratic side would remain pretty high considering the final result was still hanging in the balance, while the GOP has this "we might as well finish this things soon" attitude about their candidates.
Am I going to be disappointed again this November, with all the issues going our way, and all the money flowing our way, and still the Decepticons find a way (through cheating, voter suppression, hanging chads, etc) to win the presidency? Just think, the DSCC and DCCC are awash with funding for the first time in a long time, and for the first time in an even longer time, the corresponding Republican committees are crapping out. Our candidates, in 2007, raised more funds than the whole Republican field. And now, it seems like they may start to run out of money as they continue to battle one another.
But now, I can sleep at night... because both the Clinton and Obama campaigns have shown that they can tap a healthy source of donors and raise enormous amounts of funds in a very short time. A short enough time to actually make a difference when Republicans pull out one of their little talking points and attack our candidate.
I don't want to focus on which campaign raised more money. $7.5 million for the Clinton campaign since the start of February and a bit more for the Obama campaign since the end of Super-Tuesday aren't shabby numbers at all. And it puts to rest one of my biggest fears... that our gigantic financial advantage would be whittled down by the time of the general election. I stopped considering Edwards when he took public funds because of this very issue. I think political campaigns should be run on only public funds for each party and every candidate... opens up the field a little better and allows the candidates to do something other than fund-raise. But not for this election. This time, it's too personal and I want to win too badly.
If both of our candidates can fund-raise this well, or at least show that they have the tools to reach donors for quick funding, we don't have to worry about being outspent by the Republican candidate. Now, I've said that I would vote for either candidate, and whomever the nominee will be. But Obama can fund-raise like there's no tomorrow while I was quite worried about Clinton. I ridicule Republicans for being the politicians who buy their way into office (i.e., the Mittster, and practically every GOP Senate and House candidate challenging an incumbent as their funds have dried up and they need millionaires to run) and when I saw Clinton's loan to her campaign, I really was worried. But now, even her campaign has put that to rest. If she wins the nomination, she won't be able to stir the masses like Obama can already (with respect to appealing to donors) but she won't be too far behind and that's all that counts. And when Obama wins the nomination, we'll all rest assured that he has a growing legion of donors, just waiting to give that $5 or $10 donation and take possession of the campaign... odds are they'll take a $1,000 worth of possession for a $10 donation, but whatever.
Money is an issue with everyone, whether your balancing your checkbook or paying rent or paying a mortgage. Wouldn't it be nice not to have to worry about money. Well, short of that, now I won't have to worry about Obama and Clinton worrying about money, and that is very encouraging for our prospect not only to challenge the other side in every state in the country (and bring along our Congressional candidates at the same time; one of my favorite recap series by BENAWU) but also to take back the White House at a time when we can actually advance a progressive agenda.