The Democratic Disadvantage
Will Leitch sums up the fundraising disadvantage for Democratic presidential candidates:
When the McCain-Feingold campaign finance billwas up for debate, it gathered far more support from Democrats than Republicans. But it’s the Democratic Party that will suffer most from the new law, which eliminated soft money, a Democratic specialty. In the last two federal elections, Republicans candidates have out-raised Democrats ones in hard money – individual contributions up to $2,000, $4,000 from couples – nearly 2 to 1. And then there is the matching funds issue. After Jan. 1, 2004, every penny a candidate has raised is matched by the federal government, up to $44 million. This has two conditions. First, a candidate, if he/she is to accept public funds, must limit personal spending to $50,000; go over that, and you lose access to the matching funds. And, perhaps even more restricting, each candidate will be allowed to only spend $44 million until the July nominating convention. In a crowded race, that money could be spent by mid-March. That’s four months running on fumes. In the past, the Democratic party could help to pick up the slack