Fundraising Woes For Edwards

[illinoisprogressive]

John Edwards is struggling to make his quarter, which ends this week. All the stuff about money is true but, in politics it seems to be important.


Twelve weeks ago, after raising less money than two other Republican candidates in the first three months of 2007, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the early favorite for his party's presidential nomination, declared that it was his fault, said he hoped "to get better" at it and reorganized his finance team.

This week he said it hasn't worked out too well, acknowledging that raising money is "very tough" and allowing that "we weren't going to win this campaign on money anyway."

On the Democratic side, former senator John Edwards of North Carolina had vowed that he, too, would improve on a weak first-quarter showing. But this week, Joe Trippi, a senior aide, e-mailed supporters with news that the campaign is only two-thirds of the way to its relatively modest fundraising goal.

Edwards and McCain are two prominent victims of the widening money gap between the front-runners and the rest of the field, a separation that will be apparent when the campaigns file their fundraising reports on the second quarter, which ends next Saturday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062202190.html?hpid=topnews

[BeyondGeography]

1. He might have to do what Kerry did last time around

Kerry loaned himself $850K at the start of the campaign and raised another $6.4 million by mortgaging his home. Edwards is wealthy enough to partially finance his own effort; might even show that he's willing to put his money where his mouth is and turn into a political plus.