Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xfwgj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-16T00:36:15.470Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2009

Clifford W. Brown
Affiliation:
Union College, Rhode Island
Lynda W. Powell
Affiliation:
University of Rochester, New York
Clyde Wilcox
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Get access

Summary

Robert Farmer, a major fundraiser for both Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton, offered this blunt assessment of Paul Tsongas's decision to quit the 1992 presidential race: “People don't lose campaigns. They run out of money and can't get their planes in the air. That's the reality” (Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, 1992). Although Tsongas himself may have had several reasons for dropping out, he highlighted finance as one of them: “If you have no resources to fight back with, you are defenseless in this business. … Michael Dukakis had the most money and could take out Dick Gephardt and everybody else, and Bill Clinton basically did the same thing” (“MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour” 1992).

There can be little doubt that money is important: in seven of the eight major-party presidential nomination contests that took place since the current financial rules of engagement went into effect in 1980, the eventual winner had the largest amount of cash in the bank on January 1 when the process started in earnest. Caution, of course, is warranted in assuming a causal connection here. Those who have the most cash reserves at the start of the process (or who eventually raise the most money) do so for a reason, and the political resources that enable candidates to win the nomination may also be those resources that enable them to raise large amounts of money and raise them early. Attractive, viable candidates tend to receive more money as well as more votes.

It is also wrong to assume that just because a candidate raises a lot of money he or she will do well.

Type
Chapter
Information
Serious Money
Fundraising and Contributing in Presidential Nomination Campaigns
, pp. 1 - 13
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×