Posted on 11/01/2022 2:38:32 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Beto O’Rourke has raised $76.5 million in his bid for governor of Texas this year. Stacey Abrams has raised $85 million in her bid for governor of Georgia. When all is said and done, O’Rourke will probably top $80 million and Abrams may raise more than $90 million, so Democratic donors have given least $161 million, and may give about $170 million or so to two progressive Democrats who are running fairly longshot races against Republican incumbents in traditionally GOP-leaning southern states.
But I will make one small – I mean, best-use-a-microscope small — defense of O’Rourke and Abrams. Just as every candidate has to earn your vote, every candidate has to earn your donation. If another candidate — let’s say, Tim Ryan — thinks he represents a better investment of finite resources in his open seat Senate race in Ohio, he has to make that case to Democratic donors, large and small. (Ryan has raised $48 million, the most ever for a Senate candidate in his state, so he’s not exactly doing poorly when it comes to fundraising.)
O’Rourke and Abrams are absolute masterminds when it comes to persuading Democrats across the country that they can win, and that donating to their campaigns will put them over the top. They’re wrong, of course; as Tom Bevan observes, neither one ever led any poll in either of their races. The latest University of Houston survey puts incumbent governor Greg Abbott ahead of O’Rourke, 53 percent to 40 percent, and the latest Insider Advantage survey in Georgia puts governor Brian Kemp ahead of Abrams, 52 percent to 43 percent.
But those two over-covered – and, I would argue, wildly over-hyped — candidates “earned” those donations by getting the average Prius-driving, vegan, progressive Democrat out there to believe in them. From the beginning of the cycle, it was clear that the 2022 election environment was going to be a lot tougher for Democrats than 2018 was, and O’Rourke and Abrams came close but no cigar in that much better political environment. Somehow, O’Rourke and Abrams convinced grassroots Democrats to donate lots of money to them anyway. Either O’Rourke and Abrams are exceptionally persuasive, or grassroots Democrats have exceptionally poor judgment. Or both!
Then again, I’m also not sure that many Democratic candidates will be able to plausibly argue that if they just had a bit more money, they would have won in 2022. First, all the money in the world can’t overcome a bad political environment or candidate flaws. (Just ask Mike Bloomberg.) Second, most Democratic House candidates and Senate candidates are outraising their GOP counterparts, and Democratic state-level candidates like governors, attorney generals, and state legislators are not too far behind their GOP counterparts. Between the DNC, DSCC, DCCC, DGA, SuperPACs and all the rest, there’s plenty of money out there for a promising Democratic candidate.
Good, on them it’s just being pissed away.
kinda makes a guy wonder about where all that covid money went
Don’t worry, your tax dollars will replenish the DNC coffers via money laundering.
How much are they going to siphon off for person benefits by giving consulting Co tracts to others.
It probably went to Ukraine first.
One problem is that some of the money is going to go to friends, relatives and spouses who are serving as campaign consultants. The rest will be mainly spent on advertising from newspapers, radio, television and web sites owned by leftists. It’s a big circle of cash by the left.
Robert O’Rourke’s occupation is collecting donations for failed political campaigns. He will keep this job until he is no longer the darling of the left.
Writing his concession speech now and planning for his next failed run. Lots of money for rich leftist fools to piss away on El Puta Politico O’Rourke. He laughs all the way to the bank.
I know your statement is a bit tongue in cheek but there it truth to that.
There was a video today on Twitter by the head of Finland’s police division.
He said weapons were being smuggled into Finland by motorcycle gangs. They have branches throughout Europe, including Ukraine.
And these aren’t semi-automatic pistols and AR-15’s like you can buy here.
According to the Finns about 30% of the weapons furnished actually go to the Ukrainian military.
Where (and why) is all this money coming from??
And better still, where is it going ... and to what end?
Weaponry we have sent to Ukraine has already ended up on the black market.
Our part in this war is just another money laundering scheme.
Both of them, right off the bottom of the food chain. Rich people blow their money on the dumbest things.
Psssssst. This is tax dollar money. “Community reinvestment/Build back better/black grants for inner cities etc etc etc”
The Feral U.S. Government! The best government BIG MONEY can buy!
The Twitter video showed Ukrainian soldiers complaining that they aren’t getting the weapons sent by the West.
The Finns said this problem is so bad we may be dealing with these stolen/sold weapons for decades to come.
Rand Paul wanted an inspector general to ensure aid was indeed getting to the Ukrainians, but of course his amendment was shot down.
So if we really cared about Ukraine wouldn’t we want to make sure they got the aid instead of 70% or so of it getting pillaged?
kinda makes a guy wonder about where all that covid money wentSomebody gets it:
Both gonna get smoked
I never thought the point was to help Ukraine.
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