Saturday, February 20, 2016

Even $100 Million+ Only Goes So Far; Khcheb! Edition

As of right now, JEB! is coming in fourth in South Carolina. Trump is first, Rubio and Cruz are a handful of votes apart, and Bush is far behind, with just over a third of the votes of Cruz-io and nearly tied with Kasich.

Kasich has been campaigning on a shoestring. Bush raised well over a hundred million, between direct donations and dark money to his "leadership PAC" which is prohibited from quote coordinating unquote things with his campaign. He burned through about a third of that in New Hampshire and came in at a level that came nowhere near matching the money that was spent.

My suspicion is that the donation river has dried up for Bush. He needed to do well in South Carolina to persuade the oligarchs to re-open the taps, but he hasn't. One has to wonder how long he can keep going before his coffers run dry.

Update: No further than tonight:
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush has dropped out of the Republican race for US president after failing to rank high in the first three state primaries. ... "Today I am suspending my campaign," an emotional Mr Bush told his supporters.
Somewhere, the shade of Terri Schiavo is laughing.

6 comments:

  1. The only place where ¿JEB? had fans was with the establishment folk. But they have other horses they can back. With the legacy his brother left behind, plus the impression the 'smarter' brother gave on the campaign trail, there was a lot of headwind to counteract - and burning money didn't seem to be improving his pole position in the (R) race. They want someone who can beat tRump, and the smarter shrub wasn't doing it. Pull the plug, and hope he can get an ambassadorship out of it, if the (R)'s really do get someone into the top job.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Establishment money is about to double down on Rubio. Which is facinating, cause either HRC or Bernie is likely to toast him in a debate. The word is the kid panics and reverts to memorized shit, just like in the New Hampshire debate...just what you want in the Office. I'm kinda pulling for tRump on the R side, the theory being that, if the D nominee loses, America pretty much deserves what it gets. The county will survive, we've had much worse in charge, but it would be painful.

    The other amusing idea is Rubio gets slid in by the Establishment, HRC or Bernie on the D side, tRump runs as an independent and Bloomie jumps in. Then watch the votes roll into a deadlocked Electoral College, and the House having to choose between the three top Electoral vote getters...in a vote by state...with each delgation getting one vote. So R's then control who of the top three become Prez...imagine the fun. HRC or Bernie, unacceptable...tRump, unacceptable...Bloomie, unacceptable...Rubio, likely to be fourth in this group and therefore cannot be voted for. That would be a fun session of Congress to watch!

    ReplyDelete
  3. And how could the supremes install the next president with only eight justices?

    -Doug in Oakland

    ReplyDelete
  4. If Kasich (gesundheit) is so far ahead it really was a case of "anybody except a Bush".
    I like the fact that Shrub III funded his own economy but where did all that money he spent go exactly?
    I also, really "like" that "tRump" moniker and hope it's alright to use that freely. It so "says it" for me.
    By "God" (tm.) I so hope we don't get him though. I really thought that Shrub II was a low point for 'all time' in our history of Presidents and I'd hate to be proven wrong about that.
    I just can't see Rubio or certainly Cruze getting enough traction to get elected, but anything can fly for a little bit. After all look at the F35.
    Damn I so hope the country doesn't go stupid at the last minute.
    w3ski

    ReplyDelete
  5. I so hope the country doesn't go stupid at the last minute

    "No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby. The mistake that is made always runs the other way. Because the people are able to speak and understand, and even, in many cases, to read and, it is assumed that they have ideas in their heads, and an appetite for more. This assumption is a folly. They dislike ideas, for ideas make them uncomfortable." -- H.L. Mencken, circa 1926.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Damn I so hope the country doesn't go stupid at the last minute."

    Not to worry. It's been going stupid since 1980 at least.

    ReplyDelete

House Rules #1, #2 and #6 apply to all comments. Rule #3 also applies to political comments.

In short, don't be a jackass. THIS MEANS YOU!
If you never see your comments posted, see Rule #7.

All comments must be on point and address either the points raised in the blog post or points raised by commenters in response.
Any comments that drift off onto other topics are subject to deletion.

(Please don't feed the trolls.)

中國詞不評論,冒抹除的風險。僅英語。

COMMENT MODERATION IS IN EFFECT UFN. This means that if you are an insulting dick, nobody will ever see it.