Election Night HQ

The NY Times blog, The Caucus, had a very insightful and balanced piece on Wednesday, titled “McCain Plays Down the Money Chase”.  An excerpt:

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Senator John McCain acknowledged here today that fundraising has “been very tough,’’ but said that his brand of retail politics does not demand huge sums of money this early in the campaign.

“I think it’s important to do O.K.,’’ Mr. McCain said. “It’s been very tough. There’s a lot of candidates, and the people are a little dispirited, but we’re working hard. We weren’t going to win this campaign on money anyway. It’s whether we can do what we did in the year 2000, and that’s go out and do the real politicking, the retail politicking that’s necessary. It’s not money that’s going to win or lose.’’…

But a look at his schedule shows the importance of fundraising: he has 35 fundraisers this month alone, in the final stretch for the second quarter financial filings. “I know there’s some importance to it, but that’s not the kind of campaigning that I do,’’ he said. “It’s not media, it’s going out and doing the town hall meetings, it’s getting on the bus, going from one town to another. That’s the kind of campaign we’ll carry out, and money doesn’t play that big a role in that kind of campaigning.’’

And what, he was asked, would another third-place showing in the Republican fundraising sweepstakes mean? “Obviously I wouldn’t be happy about it, but it wouldn’t have any real effect on our campaign,’’ he said.

Finally, he was asked if he was learning to enjoy fundraising more.

“A little straight talk?’’ he asked. “No.’’ 

Read the original article here.

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