Congressman Billybob said, "like most politicians who are not bought off I have spent more of my own money than what I have received from even the largest outside contributor."
Wow, unless your name is Corzine or Bloomberg, you would be a fool. No clue of finances or politics.
I just resent, big time, attacks from people who neither know me or know my circumstances, accusing me of being some kind of crook because I made a practical judgment not to engage in a new version of Pickett's Charge, when the filing deadline came around in June, 2004.
One of my books, Why Term Limits?, (1994) dealt with the reelection of incumbents to Congress since 1790. Part of that dealt with the economics of such races. I updated the statistics in an article for the American Academy of Actuaries in 1994.
If you read that book, or that article, you will find that I have a solid basis for my conclusion that it will rake about $1 million for me to run effectively against the long-term incumbent in this District. Bottom line: I know exactly what I need to do for 2006, and I have a meeting in Washington next week to start the process of raising that kind of money without selling my soul in return.
Realism begins with research. I have done that.
Billybob