November 28, 2005

Warner's $$: A Second Thought

Last week, we mused that VA Gov Mark Warner would probably open his presidential exploratory account early. Our reasoning: if you need to raise a lot of money -- a record amount of money -- and Hillary Clinton is crowding out donors, and you want to position yourself among those fundraisers as the viable alternative, why not start early?

We remain fairly certain that Warner and many other '08 hopefuls intend to bust through the public financing caps.

But Warner might do well to wait a while before he starts to collect money for his presidential. Once Warner opens an exploratory committee, he has to abide by federal limits on what he can raise and what he can spend. Unless he's prepared to say, from day one, that he'll cut himself a check from his Nextel booty, his political activities would be curtailed quite significantly, and early. Why blow through all that cash so quickly?

A more likely option: he raises and spends through his PAC and plants enough seeds to post high numbers when he does open his exploratory account. The best of both worlds: he gets to double dip -- contributors can max out to his PAC and his exploratory in the same cycle -- and he ensures that the media recognizes his prowess whenever he reports numbers to the FEC. [MARC AMBINDER]

Posted at 12:55 PM

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