By JEANNE CUMMINGS | 8/3/10 4:28 AM EDT
Connecticut Senate candidate and former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon has spent more than $22 million of her own money to burnish her image and overtake her more established Republican primary opponent, former Rep. Rob Simmons.
Real-estate billionaire Jeff Greene, who made his money betting against the subprime mortgage market, has sunk $5 million into his bid for the Florida Senate Democratic nomination and recently took a commanding lead over his primary rival, Rep. Kendrick Meek.
However, Rick Scott who is running for governor in the Florida GOP primary has spent $24.9 million of his own money. Scott was ousted as the CEO of (Columbia) HCA after his company received a record $1.7 billion fine for Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Some Republicans call Scott an un-indicted co-conspirator in the fraud case.
Similar approaches are on display in a host of House and Senate races and in Wisconsin, New Hampshire and California. Wealthy newcomers are using their cash and fresh faces to scramble the campaign field.
Indeed, frustration with Washington, the possibility of a Republican surge and some choice open-seat races are all contributing to a bumper crop of 2010 self-financing candidates. History suggests most of them will lose.
Jennifer Duffy, who analyzes Senate races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said some of this year’s class of millionaires and billionaires could defy the odds because of the toxic sentiment among voters toward Washington.
“This is an environment particularly ripe for self-funding candidates to succeed. It is the year of the outsider, and pretty much across the board, these candidates really are outsiders. They’ve never been active in the process, even from a voting standpoint in some cases,” said Duffy.
Other good examples are Meg Whitman of California who is running for governor. She was the former CEO of EBay. Carly Fiorina is also running for a California Senate seat. She was the former CEO of HP. Neither candidate has any political experience.
Besides being wealthy, many of the GOP political candidates are female. The token minority candidates the GOP has run in the past have not been successful in political races.
The GOP has also had big problems with female voters. This may be why some many GOP political candidates are running and why Sarah Palin is endorsing them.
Palin's endorsements don't seem to be beneficial in the Blue States. In New Hampshire, Kelly Ayotte ratings dropped after a Palin endorsement. Palin does not rate highly with either Democrats or Independents.
In addition to an unusual number of rich candidates who this year decided on their own to jump into politics, the swollen ranks of the self-financers is the direct result of the recruitment strategies of both political parties.
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu
Netcraft rank: 14896
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
Real-estate billionaire Jeff Greene, who made his money betting against the subprime mortgage market, has sunk $5 million into his bid for the Florida Senate Democratic nomination and recently took a commanding lead over his primary rival, Rep. Kendrick Meek.
However, Rick Scott who is running for governor in the Florida GOP primary has spent $24.9 million of his own money. Scott was ousted as the CEO of (Columbia) HCA after his company received a record $1.7 billion fine for Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Some Republicans call Scott an un-indicted co-conspirator in the fraud case.
Similar approaches are on display in a host of House and Senate races and in Wisconsin, New Hampshire and California. Wealthy newcomers are using their cash and fresh faces to scramble the campaign field.
Indeed, frustration with Washington, the possibility of a Republican surge and some choice open-seat races are all contributing to a bumper crop of 2010 self-financing candidates. History suggests most of them will lose.
Jennifer Duffy, who analyzes Senate races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said some of this year’s class of millionaires and billionaires could defy the odds because of the toxic sentiment among voters toward Washington.
“This is an environment particularly ripe for self-funding candidates to succeed. It is the year of the outsider, and pretty much across the board, these candidates really are outsiders. They’ve never been active in the process, even from a voting standpoint in some cases,” said Duffy.
Other good examples are Meg Whitman of California who is running for governor. She was the former CEO of EBay. Carly Fiorina is also running for a California Senate seat. She was the former CEO of HP. Neither candidate has any political experience.
Besides being wealthy, many of the GOP political candidates are female. The token minority candidates the GOP has run in the past have not been successful in political races.
The GOP has also had big problems with female voters. This may be why some many GOP political candidates are running and why Sarah Palin is endorsing them.
Palin's endorsements don't seem to be beneficial in the Blue States. In New Hampshire, Kelly Ayotte ratings dropped after a Palin endorsement. Palin does not rate highly with either Democrats or Independents.
In addition to an unusual number of rich candidates who this year decided on their own to jump into politics, the swollen ranks of the self-financers is the direct result of the recruitment strategies of both political parties.
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu
Netcraft rank: 14896
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment