Friday, January 2, 2009

Moran and money

Questioning the validity of another candidate's contributions is practically a standard campaign operating procedure. Today, gubernatorial hopeful Brian Moran called on Terry McAuliffe and State Sen. Creigh Deeds to forgo any out-of-state contributions. This is obviously targeted at McAuliffe, a prolific fundraiser with a large national donor list, who believes he can raise $80 million. Today in an radio interview Moran argues:
This election should be about who has a proven record of fighting for Virginia families and a vision for where to take the state. ... It should not be an election about who can raise more money from national donors. Virginia Democrats should choose our nominee.
You know how this is going to play out. No one is going to take Moran's challenge, and after each quarter, Moran is going to cry foul in the media. Unfortunately, I am not sure the out-of-state/district-money meme resonates with voters. It didn't work for Rep. Goode against Tom, and I doubt it will work here.

Update:
Not Larry Sabato is critical too.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yet another argument for public financing of elections. So long as money is "speech," the meme will never work. Ugh...

Drew said...

I wonder if Obama's $800 million dollar haul this past presidential election is the death bell of public financing at that level.