A headline in today’s Kansas City Star reads, "Brownback not panicking over funds."
In fact, if he wants to stand a chance of being a contender for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2008, Brownback ought to be panicked!
According to the Star, Brownback, "raised a little more than $242,000 for his Restore America political action committee. "That’s awful," said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. "It’s early, but that’s not an impressive number at all. He clearly is in the third tier, not even in the second tier."
It is perhaps more concerning that, in an effort to palliate the problem, his disappointing numbers were dismissed with a glib response. The truth is, when you look at other candidates, Brownback is way behind.
Brownback’s fundraising totals are especially embarrassing for a sitting member of the U.S. Senate.
Fundraising is rarely facile. I'm not sure whether the problem is that he has received bad fundraising advice - or whether he suffers from a common affliction (fear of asking for money). It may seem early, but in fact, Brownback's presidential aspirations seem be on the precipice of disaster. In the immortal words of the Doors, "The time to hesitate is through."
Brownback is a respected conservative, but winning a Senate race in Kansas is not the same as winning a modern-day presidential race. If he wants to be taken seriously he must accept the reality that money talks.
