Money's Going to Talk in 2008

Entry Fee' for Presidential Race Could Be $100 Million
Michael E. Toner, the chairman of the Federal Election Commission, has some friendly advice for presidential candidates who plan to be taken seriously by the time nominating contests start in early 2008: Bring your wallet. "There is a growing sense that there is going to be a $100 million entry fee at the end of 2007 to be considered a serious candidate," Toner said in a recent interview.

The jockeying for the presidential nominations in both major parties is already vigorously underway, as illustrated by the parade of GOP contenders on display this weekend at a meeting of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Memphis. For now, however, the main arena of competition is financial, as candidates prepare themselves for a race most analysts believe will involve sums vastly larger than any previous presidential campaign.

Many political operatives are expecting that the gradual breakdown of the public funding system -- federal funds in exchange for spending limits -- that has taken place in recent years will become complete in 2008. The result would be candidates in both parties racing far past old spending records, and facing new pressure to begin raising money far in advance of election year.

Not all political finance experts and campaign operatives agree with Toner that raising $100 million over the next 22 months is the price of admission for candidates who want to establish credibility and compete on an equal footing. The $100 million is nearly three times the previous threshold for being regarded in national political circles as a first-tier candidate. But it is plain that a number of factors have converged that will render obsolete old assumptions about what it costs to run for president.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR2006031002425.html

Bill "Cat Lover" Frist....

A chance to preside over a bankrupt and broken system. You'd have to be nuts to want to spend a $100MM so you can take command of the Titanic.

what do WE get for $100 million?

THAT is the what it will cost to have a chance of winning the Presidency.

The nearly $200M that Kerry raised in 2004 only bought us a few commercial spots
that were lost in the sea of 24x7 Republican propaganda. Nobody even remembers
seeing any of them.

We cannot compete with them by buying a few ads.
That's like pop-guns against Howitzers.