The Money Game
by Jeff Woods
Pity Lamar Alexander. With George W. Bush grabbing contributions at an unprecedented rate, Alexander’s presidential campaign is on life support. New campaign financial disclosures show that although he raised $1.8 million in the second quarter of the year, he reported just $90,000 in cash reserves and more than twice that amount in debts. Asked whether the campaign was still alive, one Alexander adviser told the Washington Post, “We’re holding a mirror up to its mouth to see if it’s still breathing.”
Alexander has been reduced to riding around Iowa in a Winnebago, whining about the Bush juggernaut. Appearing on CNN in Council Bluffs, he told a small group of supporters, “The system is broken. What we have is a system that is becoming a closed shop instead of an open shop; instead of a level playing field that attracts the most talented men and women and gives voters a spirited contest and a lot of choices, we’ve got a closed shop dominated by big media and big money, and it’s limiting the number of people who can run.”
Alexander is trying to visit 60 Iowa counties before that state’s straw poll next month. Unless he places a strong third, his campaign is probably finished. Alexander says the straw poll will “be a strong signal about who can win the first contest of the season, which is next January, I guess. So, if I show up and show I’m better prepared to be president than the others, if I show that I’ve got an organization that can compete to win the caucuses, then you and others will say: ‘Wait, Alexander might be the Republican nominee, we better pay some attention to that.’ ”
Alexander’s Iowa organization is so strong, he might actually pull it off, even without money. After that, it’s another story.
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