Myth No #1: Thompson Can’t Raise Enough Money

Anti-Fred Thompson Myths
There is a lot of misinformation in the blogosphere about Fred Thompson. Over the next couple of weeks, I will try to systematically to confront these myths with facts and reason.

Myth No #1: Fred Thompson Can’t Raise Enough Money
Myth No. 1 : Fred Thompson is too late to raise enough money to compete with the GOP frontrunners has been making the rounds in the blogosphere. Let’s examine the facts from the first quarter campaign finance reports (Money Raised & Expenses for Jan-Mar 2007).

First, Romney has raised the most money ($23M), but he spent the most ($12M) and has the most debt ($2.3M). He has been trying to break out of the single digits to catch John McCain. Polls show he is supported by only 3-12% of the GOP.

McCain's presidential campaign raised $13M and burned $8 million during the first three months of 2007, leaving only $5.2 million in the bank. McCain peaked last fall and support has been steadily eroding since November.

By contrast, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani reported cash on hand of $12M after spending 6M. Giuliani’s support is generally report ed in the high 20s and low 30s.

Fred Thompson has spent $0 and polls place his support between 10-15%. The real question becomes, how long will Fred need to raise the money to catch them. At the current rates of spending, McCain and Romney will be nearly out of money by the end of June. It is my opinion that current rates of spending are unsustainable by McCain & Romney. Their financial edge is gone. Giuliani has a serious lead in money and seems to be planning expenditures well. Normally it is the amount of funds available that determine name recognition. Fred already has a built in base of name recognition and a larger base that will recognize his face.

The next questions are “When will Thompson get into the race?” and “How long will Romney, McCain and Gingrich hang on?”.