If the debate were held today, aside from Trump and DeSantis, only three others— Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy— would make the cut
By the time you read this column, President Biden’s re-election campaign should have released its second-quarter take, which analysts will scrutinize to see how far he needs to go to match the $1 billion he raised in 2020 and the $2 billion he hopes to raise for 2024.
The fundraising figures for the Republican challengers are far more critical at this stage, with the first debate scheduled in six weeks in Milwaukee. To qualify, a candidate must prove 48 hours before the debate that he or she has raised money from 40,000 individual donors, including a minimum of 200 donors from 20 states. It might sound easy for people with national name recognition, but it hasn’t been. If the debate were held today, aside from Trump and DeSantis, only three others — Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — would make the cut, although both Mike Pence and Chris Christie insist they will qualify.
With Trump’s bulging wallet and a wide lead in the polls, the only chance any rival has of catching up is by dominating the competition in the nationally televised debate.
If someone should catch fire, then pay heed — not just to the first post-debate poll, but to the second one taken after the initial excitement wears off. If a candidate shows momentum in closing the gap with Trump, then just maybe we will have a horse race. Especially since some of the biggest donors among political action committees (PACs) such as Americans for Prosperity and Club for Growth are yearning for a candidate not named Trump. They haven’t coalesced around any specific challenger, and they won’t until they see if anyone else is viable.
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