Republicans stressed and out of money

It is never a good sign when a campaign runs out of money. It is even worst when all of them do. This is the case of the remaining Republican candidates except for Mitt Romney who can count on his own fortune. Mike Huckabee had to cancel is press bus, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani had to ask their staff to let go of their pay checks. The situation is so bad that at this point, no one knows how they will be able to pay passed the Florida primary onto Super Tuesday on February 5th.

This struggle with money underlines two things. The campaigns are so long that it costs an obscene amount of money. Remember, most of candidates started running a year ago! It is estimated that to get to the Convention, each candidate needs to raise 400 millions dollars. No wonder there are talks of improving the political process.

Secondly, it looks like the Republicans have given up. They are obviously aware that the Bush legacy is hurting the party and the American people are quite angry. Does this mean that no Republican candidate has any chance to beat any Democrat candidate? That is a legitimate question, but the lasting feud between the Clintons and Obama, should bring their smiles again.

The reality is that no one is excited with any of the candidates. It is pretty clear now that Huckabee has reached its peak and a lot of non-evangelical think is message is too narrow. It also looks like September 11th will not suffice to convince a majority to vote for Rudy Giuliani, although I am not so sure that he is toast yet. As for McCain, they like him enough but think that his age is a problem or will be. They worry about the image: Mccain always surrounded by a small group of old people as Clinton and Obama are in the middle of a very crowded and energetic events. Then, there is Mitt Romney, mister excitement himself. With the nickname of “Mr. Robot”, he has a reputation of being a good business man, but looks too perfect Republicans say. His millions of dollars will keep him in the race and may even make him win it.

In light of the bitter fights going on between the Democrats, the Republicans need to get excited soon, pick the most likely to challenge any Democrats and inject a lot of money. It might be worth it, as keeping the White House after Georges Bush may not be so impossible after all.

Catherine Cano