Is money less important than it used to be?

[Puppycow]

They say that Obama outspent Hillary 2-1 or 3-1 in Pennsylvania, and maybe it helped a little, but he still lost. We can't definitively know what would have happened if less money had been spent, but it seems like it doesn't make much difference for high profile candidates. John McCain won the nomination despite lagging his rivals in fundraising, and Mike Huckabee never had two nickels to rub together, but managed to do better than some other candidates with more money.

[T.A.M.]

Hmmmm....

So in a predominant white, blue collar state, where Clinton grew up, where her Husband's presidency and name is like the Nike of politics, a relatively unknown black man in 6 weeks closed the gap from over 20% to 10%.

Yah, money is not very powerful anymore.

TAM:)

[Puppycow]

Hmmmm....

So in a predominant white, blue collar state, where Clinton grew up, where her Husband's presidency and name is like the Nike of politics, a relatively unknown black man in 6 weeks closed the gap from over 20% to 10%.

Yah, money is not very powerful anymore.

TAM:)

Relatively unknown? Slight exagerration there. Still, I don't know how much of that shift is attributable to his outspending her. I admit I can't point to any hard fact, because there's no control to compare it with.

[T.A.M.]

I agree, and the factors that contributed to his closing the gap are likely multiple.

I think those of us here, who follow it all closely, should not assume that everyone does. Most people in the USA, may not in fact follow it close enough.

That said, perhaps a slight exaggeration, but you have to admit, compared to the Clinton Brand, the Obama brand in terms of recognition is far behind, even now.

TAM:)

[David Wong]

Think about it; the paid advertising is just one means by which the voters form their opinion about a candidate; others include debates, news, jokes on late night TV, opinions of co-workers, party loyalty, gender and race loyalty, etc.

So money and paid ads are just one factor, maybe accounting for 20% of the voter's support.

After all, if it was possible to simply spend your way to victory, we would have had Ross Perot as president, then stepping down to be replaced by Steve Forbes.

You have to have money to have a chance, but by no means can you just straight-out buy elections. The cynics who say that aren't realizing how many other factors there are.

[TheJim]

To answer you question it is money is as important as it always is which is to say very important but never the most important. The democratic primary this year should not be used to describe any past or future election because of the very unique circumstances of Hillary Clinton. Hillary might be the only non-incumbent in history to run with close to 100 percent name recolonization and it would not surprise me if there where some incumbents running with lower name recolonization.

On your observations for the republican side I put that too no one raising money so it appears the last 2 men standing did it on less but someone had to win. The only one on the republican side to have anything approaching a war chest was Mitt but that was mostly from self donation.

[dudalb]

If you believe money is less important in a political campaign then it once was, I got some Oceanside property in Iowa you might be interested in.

[Brainster]

Hmmmm....

So in a predominant white, blue collar state, where Clinton grew up, where her Husband's presidency and name is like the Nike of politics, a relatively unknown black man in 6 weeks closed the gap from over 20% to 10%.

Hillary did not grow up in Pennsylvania.

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Actually, If you look at the Republican side, it seemed to be more a matter of who won the first primaries rather than who had the most money.

But for the Dems, the people who made the most money are the people left standing.

[Kaylee]

Its really disappointing that money is still very important. Between web sites like www.ontheissues.org and televised debates -- it shouldn't be.

[T.A.M.]

Hillary did not grow up in Pennsylvania.

didn't she claim to spend summers there, etc...etc...

[kallsop]

Nonsense. McCain-Feingold removed the influence of money and big corporate media.

:)

[NeoRicen]

Money matters to an extent, but if people don't like what they see they still aren't going to vote for you, just look at Ron Paul.