He was as successful as any candidate in raising money from other people, too, so he still could have run a decent campaign.
Decent? Yes. I’ll agree with that. He did raise a boatload of money from donors. More than any other Republican candidate. But his personal wealth bailed him out after he lost Iowa and New Hampshire. Just look at Florida. He ran something like 10 times the number of TV commercials as McCain in the week leading up to the vote and that money was his own from all accounts that I’ve read. The money, both his own and the funds he raised, was the only thing keeping the campaign going as they suffered setback after setback.