Money Rules the (Election) World

Presidential hopefuls for 2008 have until April 15 to file first-quarter reports on fundraising.

According to the Boston Globe, who will have made how much money in two weeks will have far-reaching consequences. Having raised a surprisingly large amount of money can give the underdogs, for example governor Mike Huckabee or Senator Sam Brownback, a huge boost in credibility. Rudy Giuliani, on the other hand, needs to raise significant amounts of money to show that his high standings in the polls is also reflected in a broad base of supporters willing to also make monetary sacrifices for him. And the amounts that are expected to be raised in this race are enormous: Front-runner candidates are expected to have already raised up to 30 million dollars.

Mitt Romney and John McCain, meanwhile, have engaged in a sort of fundraising tug of war. Each campaign has asserted that the other candidate has raised more money. Thus, they set the bar low for themselves and high for the other candidate.

On politico.com, Kenneth B. Vogel suggests ways to make your fundraising seem more successful close to the deadline. Shift your employees’ payday to after March 31^st and waiting with paying bills. According to veteran political operative Craig Varoga, “a lot of bills are going to be paid on April 1^st”. A very simple trick is also to simply keep stressing how little money a candidate is spending as opposed to how much he or she is raising.

Fundraising is about more than just making money to spend on your campaign, it is also an early indicator of possible electoral success and also a great measure for a candidate’s resourcefulness to boost his or her own numbers.