By David Rabinowe, Esq.
Imagine for a moment, if someone told you there was an opening at your dream job -- the one you wanted all your life. It has everything, the perfect location, people fawning over you, prestige, -- everything you could ever want and, with it you would affect the lives of multi-millions for the better.
What would you do to get that job? Would you work around the clock? Be willing to spend an inordinate amount of time away from your family? What would you be willing to do?
Now what if I told you that the interview process was going to last over 2 years? And you would have to compete with countless others, many with resumes that rival yours, And one more thing...to be a viable candidate for the job, you would have to raise and spend hundreds of times the annual salary of the position just to show the hiring committee that you were an interested and viable candidate?
Still interested? Well, if you are at least 35 years old and a natural born citizen of the United States of America you too can apply for the position -- President of the United States.
Yes, the presidential election process is arguably the strangest job interview in the world, and the 2008 job search has started earlier than any in history, and will without question be the most expensive in history.
According to their respective campaigns, in just the first 3 months of 2007, the “top”12 candidates competing for this one job combined to raise 126.9 million dollars in 120 days! The top six Democratic candidates raised $77 million dollars and the top six Republican candidates raised $49.9 million dollars. So, on second thought, if you are still interested in the job…you better get going -- you are already quite a bit behind.
To put these numbers in perspective, through the first three months of 2003 all the major party candidates combined to raise a reported $30.9 million dollars. That means there has been a jump of more then 400% in one election cycle, which can be explained by two major factors.
First and foremost, four years ago the Republican nomination was pre-determined. President Bush did not have a viable challenger. This time, both party nominations are wide open for the first time since the 1952 election. With more competitors, comes more money. At that time, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower with his famous “Ike jacket” ran against Sen. Adlai Stevenson with a hole showing in his shoe's sole. As we know, the “jacket” won.
Second, the fact that more and more states are moving their primaries up on the election calendar means that the amounts necessary even this early in the process are greater then ever before. More money allows the candidate to get their message out, and to stifle any potential competition from adding to an already crowded pool of applicants. After all, the more horses in the race trying to get position the harder it is to run clear of the field.
To show how much earlier things are happening, in 2004, John Kerry and George Bush raised a combined $500 million dollars prior to the national conventions. Even so, no candidate in 2004 had spent as much as $50 million dollars by the end of the competitive portion of the primary season (Super Tuesday). According to the Campaign Finance Institute, this time around, the question is, will there be candidates who spend $50 million dollars even before the first primary vote is cast, and if so, how many will reach that thresh hold? (For the full CFI report go to: http://www.cfinst.org/books_reports/pdf/NP_SoftMoney_0608.pdf.)
EMILY (Early Money Is Like Yeast) has been a tried and true axiom throughout modern day politics. In fact, while the candidates generally bemoan the need to raise these sums of money, they do wear their numbers as a kind of badge of honor. The fact is that people like betting on winners, and candidates use their numbers to help define their viability, thus earning a better position out of the political starting gate.
Whether we should use fundraising prowess as the main means we define a candidate's viability is a question for another day, as is how we should handle the money poured into the political process from outside sources like political action committees, interest groups, political organizations, 527's, etc. But until there is full public financing or other real reforms, money is no doubt the mothers' milk of politics, and these numbers can not and should not be ignored.
If the early numbers for 2007 are any indication, when the 2008 race really gets going, we may be able unofficially to add an additional requirement to the constitutional requirements of 35 years of age and a natural born citizen. The ability to raise nearly a half billion dollars or more to run may be the focal point of the candidate's resume.
Remember though, the job does pay 400 thousand dollars, and comes with a few other perks…So, Still interested?
