Importance of political campaign war chests and raising money
by: Maurice L Bonamigo, July 2005
"Your Finance Committee
has to make it a point to amass a large campaign war chest." says Maurice
Bonamigo.
It is always important to raise cash in a manner that suggests one is expecting
a competitive race. Always be prepared. If a monkey should run against,
you it is important to run a full-scale blown campaign. There will be television,
there will be door doctors, there will be precinct workers, their will be
all those things that are needed to get elected. There must never be anybody
who will say "he doesn't want that job". Always remember, if you
are not raising money you are a political target waiting to be hit.
Is important to have a huge campaign chest because you never want someone
else with unlimited funds to come along to think he can knock you off. Your
competitor will always have to raise the same amount of money that you have
in order to be competitive. If you have a war chest of approximately 3 to
$4 million plus, you know your competition is going to find it difficult
to raise that kind of money in $2000 dollar increments. It used to be that parties
once supported candidates. Now wealthier candidates are helping to support
the party. By giving away money, a power base is built for the person giving.
Quid pro quo.
With all of the miscellaneous factors that are required to run a successful
campaign, an average campaign will have approximately $10,000 a month in
operating costs alone. This means that roughly $100,000 is spent on overhead
alone annually.
When starting on your campaign always remember, and don't be afraid
to contact your wealthiest incumbents. They too keep a lot of cash
on hand and are apt to give away money to up and coming candidates.
