Why 'money is not a panacea' in Election 2024: Raw Story Editor-in-Chief Dave Levinthal
Candidates running for the presidency and Congress just released some gaudy new fundraising numbers, but Raw Story Editor-in-Chief Dave Levinthal warned to view the big-dollar totals with a healthy dose of skepticism.
"You have to have money in order to be competitive. You absolutely have to have it. If you don't have money, the chances of you winning are next to nil," Levinthal told host Justin Robert Young on the "Politics! Politics! Politics!" podcast. "But money is not a panacea. Money will not alone win you a race. Just ask Michael Bloomberg in the last presidential election. There has to be a confluence of factors — money, popularity, the factors on the ground, the news of the moment — that conspire in a positive way for you to be successful as a candidate."
In this regard, Donald Trump continues to dominate the 2024 presidential race, with none of the other GOP candidates able to break through in any meaningful way, Levinthal told Young — except, perhaps, for one.
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"In this field where it just seems ossified, and nobody is really making a move, or the only moves that are being made are down for candidates not named Donald Trump, Nikki Haley has been that one exception. Not a huge exception at this point, but an exception enough where her fundraising — she's over-performing," Levinthal said. "Her fundraising, let's recall at the beginning of this year, was trash ... she has rebounded, she has had some strong performances, she has run a really strong grassroots operation in New Hampshire, the retail politicking that she's done has been solid and she's sitting on just short of $12 million going into October."
Will it matter?
"Probably not, to be realistic about. Because you just have to simply say two more words after 'Nikki Haley,' which is 'Donald Trump'," Levinthal said.
Trump, though, who is facing 91 felony charges across four different cases, as well as a civil trial targeting his business empire, has political money problems of his own, Levinthal said.
He noted that several critical Republican megadonors aren't active in the 2024 election cycle, either by choice — or because they've died. One of the former is billionaire businessman Peter Thiel, who has reportedly said he will not help bankroll Trump in 2024.
At the 2016 Republican National Convention, Thiel "was there, in primetime, on the stage, setting Donald Trump up, and now he is gone. Poof. And his money has gone with it."
Meanwhile, in U.S. Senate races, Democrats face a challenging map and a number of critical races they must win in order to retain a majority in Congress' upper chamber. Among the most critical: Ohio's U.S. Senate race, where Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is attempting to win re-election in a state that's become solidly red.
"He's the Frodo Baggins of Democrats in Ohio. He's the last hope," Levinthal said. "Either he's going to be able to throw the ring into the volcano or not. Democrats are pretty much done if Sherrod Brown cannot win."
Listen to the full podcast interview here:
Raw Story investigative reporter Jordan Green won a 2023 Folio Award from the Fair Media Council on June 23, 2023 in Long Island, N.Y.