Fred and the Question of Money

Many in the leftosphere and in the "Ron-Paul" osphere have been proclaiming the Fred Thompson campaign dead in the water, due to Thompson's raising "only" 3.5 million during the month of June.

But given that Fred is not yet an official candidate, was that amount really that deficient?

Not so, says the Arkansas Republican:

(1) In his first exploratory month, Thompson raised well over $3.5 million - more than 10 times what Giuliani did in his first month and about 3 times what McCain raised. Here’s the comparison to the other top three Republican candidates during the initial exploratory month (from the time they started taking money):
· Giuliani - total raised in first month (Nov. 15-Dec. 15): $258,660
· McCain - total raised in first month (Nov. 14-Dec. 14): $1,130,351
· Romney - raised more money in his first month, but largely because he organized his big-dollar donors ahead of time to give himself a bit splash and he loaned his committee at least $850,000 weeks before filing his statement of candidacy on Jan. 3.

(2) Under FEC rules, a candidate is not allowed to raise funds “in excess of what could reasonably be expected to be used for exploratory activities”. Thompson has raised an appropriate amount for an exploratory phase. Considering these rules, it is interesting that . . .
· One month ago, the DNC attacked Thompson (in the Politico) for potentially raising more money than he’d need for the exploratory period and said they’d “argue aggressively” against him. The DNC rolled out the hit piece at Daily Kos claiming that Thompson was “Raising Funds Beyond What You Need To "Explore"” and the liberal activist outlet CREW said Thompson “appears to have raised far more money than necessary…”
· After being attacked for raising “too much” money, Thompson is now being attacked for not spending his entire Exploratory focus on raising money.

(3) An inquiry to the Fred Thompson campaign revealed that they have not even used any direct mail or telephone fundraising and their expenditures have been very low meaning that an estimated 80% of funds will be available for the primary.

So, Ron-Paul-ites and DNC-- don't be so quick to turn out the lights, cause the Fred Thompson party is far from over.

As a matter of fact, it's only just begun.