The big news this week is that Barack Obama hauled in a whopping $31 million during the last quarter. Hillary Clinton pulled in $21 million, and Joe Biden complained that all this money business gets in the way of actual ideas.
On the Republican side, Rudolph Giuliani raised $17 million this second quarter while Mitt Romney, his primary rival insofar as the money race is concerned, brought in $14 million. Romney upped the quarterly ante by lending himself another $6.5 million to break $20 million mark.
Meanwhile, John McCain is cutting staff after raising a “disappointing” $11.2 million and news about John Edwards was more about his wife’s tiff with the ever-brusque Ann Coulter than the $9 million he raked in.
All of this is to say that the news this week is strictly horse race and handicapping with actual ideas and debate relegated far beyond the sidelines. Kind of like last week… and the week before. When there is debate, it’s 10 candidates on a stage vying for the best soundbite in the few minutes of airtime afforded them.
Such is the nature of our national dialog during a time when war, peace, terrorism, healthcare, economics and America’s standing in the world might also deserve a moment or two of consideration.
Such is the nature of our media and its inside the beltway coverage, where one’s ability to raise money has become the barometer for how they would actually function as president. As Biden ruefully acknowledged the other day:
“If I raise $20 million tomorrow, I would be in the top tier,” Biden said in response to a suggestion that if he just had a better health care plan he would vault into the so-called top tier of the race for the party’s nomination.
“And I find it obscene to have to raise $35 million a quarter to compete,” he said.
And all this is why we’re fans of the Cooper Union’s invitation to all candidates to discard their stump speeches and instead discourse on actual policy. The series kicked off with with two non-candidates, Newt Gingrich and Mario Cuomo, outlining what the series could and should be. In this video moderated by NBC’s Tim Russert, each outlines where they see the country going and propose solutions to pressing national problems.
In the video above, John Edwards presents why he believes there are two Americas, one rich, one poor and discusses the inherent dangers of an increasing gap between the two. After his twenty minute overview, he sits with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer to continue the discussion and defend his position and assumptions.
