Posted on 07/15/2011 6:03:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Half that amount was raised in a mere 18 days after she formally declared her candidacy, but given her reputation as a fundraising juggernaut, the bottom-line number sure does look anemic next to Romney’s $18 million haul. At Commentary, Jonathan Tobin wonders if she’s ready for prime time:
Bachmann’s excuses for this showing will center on the fact that at the start of the quarter she barely had a campaign, let alone the sort of organization that would allow her to rake in the big bucks. Her Internet fundraising operation, key to a grass roots populist candidacy such as hers, so far lacks the sophistication and promotional efforts needed for her to harness the energy of enthusiastic Tea Party and conservative Christian backers…
Having lifted herself from the second tier to leading alternative to the frontrunner in just a few weeks, Bachmann no longer has the ability to fly below the radar. The congresswoman’s fast start has set high expectations that require her to do more than just skate by. If Bachmann’s performance in the Iowa straw poll in August or the next fundraising report again falls short of what we believe a first-tier candidate must do, her hopes will suffer.
Does anyone think she’ll fall short of a first-tier showing in the straw poll? My assumption’s been that, at worst, she’ll finish second. Bachmann’s also in an odd spot in that, even after her poll surge, no one’s sure how seriously to take her yet. She could bleed lots of support if Perry/Palin get in (which, in Perry’s case, sounds likely) — or, if they don’t, she might surge as tea partiers and social cons choose her as their undisputed standard-bearer. If Romney, Pawlenty, and Ron Paul do a solid job of organizing for the straw poll, Bachmann could finish surprisingly badly there and have to endure a “paper tiger” narrative that leaves would-be donors looking for an alternative. Or maybe she’ll destroy them all and suddenly attract big money as people start to view her as a legitimate threat. Point being, except for T-Paw, no one has as much riding on Ames as Bachmann does. It’s almost pointless to look at their respective balance sheets now since things will change dramatically next month one way or another. But if you do want to look at those sheets, here’s a line to chew on: Although T-Paw outraised her for the quarter (he took in $4.5 million), he had just $1.4 million in cash on hand at the start of July before the big push to Ames. Bachmann has more than $3.6 million, although it’s not clear right now how much of that is for the primary rather than the general. Presumably most of it is, which means Pawlenty’s already in the hole money-wise while he’s trying to catch up in the polls. (Speaking of being in the hole, a factoid from Matt Lewis: Gingrich’s campaign is more than a million dollars in debt — and half of that amount is due to chartering private planes.)
Lest you think Bachmann’s not serious about the nomination, here’s CNN’s report today about her leaving her church in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod last month before her official announcement. Per Lutheran tradition, WELS names the Papacy as the Antichrist; Bachmann, presumably fearing a Rev. Wright problem next year, decided to limit her exposure early, I guess. Undaunted, the left’s seized on an exciting new meme that gives them the chance to attack an ideological opponent while indulging in the sort of cheap jokes that they’ve otherwise derided for years: They think Bachmann’s husband, whose clinic aims to turn gays straight, is totally, totally gay himself. Can’t wait for the Obama attack ad.
What can toads like you say that you haven’t already said? At least without getting banned?
Rich democrats
I can’t remember the last Romney thread I saw at FR. It’s hard to run threads on a guy who is usually in hiding. I don’t expect to hear from Mitt until the debt cap debate is ended.
Bet you are a U-M fan. We’re both from Michigan and we hardly ever agree on anything.
As much snot blowing as you do, I expect you to take care of it.
I wasn’t the one wetting my pants over it. And it wasn’t a lie. Check several posts up.
There are like 7 RINOs in the race now with more chattering about entering. I don’t care how strong Sarah Palin is, she doesn’t stand a chance facing them all on her own.
I personally prefer to help both of them because I could easily vote for either of them but if things continue the way they are, we’ll be looking at Romney as the nominee.
Bachmann is running incredibly strong despite the endless barrage. She would get a big boost if the Palin supporters gave he some support and when Palin gets in she’ll run strong anyway.
I look at it in NASCAR terms of drafting. Running alone in the pack, you’ll get nowhere but if you partner with someone you can compete with the pack and worry about the checkered flag later.
She is spending very fast also. She entered too early.
Not a big fan of college sports and don’t even know if UofM even has a baseball team.
I supppose I’m a UofM fan by proximity. I’m just a few miles closer to Ann Arbor than I am to Lansing. Hillsdale college is about the same distance (with a Tea party express stop coming up in September)
Beats Metro Detroit, where I live.
Mail.
I’m in the southeastern corner of Jackson county. Near Napoleon.
We attack him but since no one is defending him or promoting him here, there isn’t much fresh we can do, it would be like talking about Obama all the time, which we don’t do either, are you two running a lot of Romney threads that we are missing or ignoring, or was that just phony indignation?
By the way, it looks like the Romney thread I just posted on an hour ago, was pulled.
You said it! What, people think that “well, at least Romney’s a Republican?” I have NEVER seen anyone flip flop as much as he and I’ve been voting since Goldwater. And where is he during these debt ceiling talks)? He’s lying low because he doesn’t want one more thing he’s going to have to flip on.
he’s a slimy prig. He is not to be trusted. And he is the poster child for RINO.
Spooky Dude.
Romney should be the primary target for elimination right now. I don’t expect Newt to be in much longer but that still leaves plenty of RINOs in the herd.
Absolutely! It’s like the sport’s adage ... if you allow the other team to hang around, they will come back and beat you. How do you think we got McCain?
By the way, it looks like the Romney thread I just posted on an hour ago, was pulled.Romney threads are not allowed. It's a standing order and has been for sometime now.
Dollars do not win elections.
An awful lot of conservative dollars are wasted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/dollars-per-vote/
Linda McMahon R CT-SEN $46,600,161 488,885 $95/vote Lost
Meg Whitman R CA-GOV $175,000,000 3,088,070 $57/vote Lost
If you look down this list of the top 10 in $$/vote, only 2 were winners.
Agreed that there are many factors in winning, but having more money is surely not any predictor.
Lesson learned: Dollars sent to show support are a waste. Conservative dollars must be on target where it matters.
Otherwise, we waste our resources.
I regret my wasted contributions to Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Joe Miller...
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