Russell Moore: Raimondo’s Daunting Fundraising

Monday, April 28, 2014

Russell J. Moore, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™

There's a school of thought, with respect to fundraising, which suggests that after a certain threshold is passed, additional funding starts to resemble the law of diminishing returns.

In other words, the money spent begins to have a less and less significant effect, and that time spent on fundraising could be better focused in other areas.

Sour Grapes

Reject this notion. The people who make this argument are, almost exclusively, those people who are getting out-fundraised and, what comes later, outspent. This idea harkens back to Aesop's "Sour Grapes" fable—wherein a fox, after making three unsuccessful attempts at jumping to seize grapes, remarks, "I'm certain those grapes were sour."

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When Jesse Unruh, a former prominent California Speaker of the House and General Treasurer, said that "money is the mother's milk of politics", it may not have been the most pleasing truth—but it's a truth nevertheless.

So it was big news this Thursday when the gubernatorial campaigns of Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo—the two frontrunners in the race—released their fundraising totals for the 1st quarter of the year. Once again, Raimondo proved to be in a different fundraising league than Taveras.

Jaw Dropping

Raimondo raised about $1.1 million in the first quarter. That's jaw dropping. The Treasurer has about $3.3 million in cash on hand. It's safe to say that Raimondo is the most prolific fundraiser in the history of Rhode Island.

By comparison, Taveras raised about $500,000, and has about $1.35 million on hand—according to WPRI.com's Ted Nesi. That means, as things stand now, and I don't see this dynamic changing any time soon, every time the Taveras camp spends $1, Raimondo can spend $2.5.

Theoretically, she can run 2.5 times the commercials, send out 2.5 times the amount of direct mail, hire 2.5 times the amount of campaign staff—you get the idea.

The front-runner

Without doubt, like in business, it's not all about how much you spend. To some degree, it's about how you spend the money. But does anyone think Raimondo is going to spend her campaign cash foolishly?

What makes Raimondo the clear front-runner, to my mind, at this point, is the fact that the recent polling released shows her either in front, or in contention. Assuming those polls are correct, and she's close at this point, if not outright leading, the onslaught of campaign advertisements she'll unleash will only accelerate her race towards capturing the Democratic nomination.

Campaign finance reform

None of this is to suggest that this dynamic is fair, ideal, or even just. Clearly, there's something wrong with a system where the person who can raise the most money is the person who has the advantage towards winning the race.

Raimondo's critics will argue that her campaign contributors from Wall Street donate to her with the expectation of receiving something in return. Human nature being what it is, that may, in fact be the case. But does anyone who believes that really think that the bulk of Taveras' contributors hand him campaign cash saying "do what's best for the common good"?

Let's face it: Rhode Island, and America as a whole, needs campaign finance reform like blood.

Can Pell break through?

But at the same time, if candidates are restricted in their ability to raise campaign cash to too large of an extent—the country will become an oligarchy (even to more of an extent than it already is). If someone raised in Smithfield and from a middle class background can't raise campaign cash to get her message out, only the wealthy are going to be able to run for public office.

Which brings me to Clay Pell—the wild card in the race for Governor. Pell hasn't reported his fundraising numbers yet for this quarter (at least not up until this column's deadline), but fundraising doesn't have the same importance for Pell as Raimondo and Taveras. Taveras and Raimondo don't hail from a privileged background like Pell, who has the ability to self-fund.

Taveras' cruel summer?

Despite that ability, one wonders whether even money, powerful as it is, can propel the Pell campaign to the top. The question still remains whether or not Pell has the personal magnetism and ability to relate to the common, everyday Rhode Islander, that he'll need to win the race.

It will be interesting, as spring moves on and eventually becomes summer, to see the effect that money has on the race and to what extent it moves the polling in one direction or the other. Count me as one who won't be surprised to see it put Raimondo safely in front.

 

A native Rhode Islander, Russell J. Moore is a graduate of Providence College and St. Raphael Academy. He worked as a news reporter for 7 years (2004-2010), 5 of which with The Warwick Beacon, focusing on government. He continues to keep a close eye on the inner workings of Rhode Islands state and local governments.

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