Ante to wage a "serious" Presidential campaign: $50 million raised by December 31

Chicago Tribune: Big bucks needed to wage presidential campaign
By Mike Dorning
Washington Bureau
Published January 22, 2007, 8:25 PM CST

WASHINGTON -- The Iowa caucuses that kick off the presidential campaign are nearly a year away. For the most viable contenders, make that one year and $100 million away.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has that capacity, and other contenders believe that they do as well.

To wage a serious presidential campaign in 2008, the ante is $50 million raised by Dec. 31 of this year, said one adviser to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). And that is just to get a place at the table.

Those are daunting figures. To make the $100 million mark in a year, a candidate must bring in an average of nearly $2 million a week. That's $274,000 a day, including Sundays and holidays, all of it raised in increments legally limited to no more than $2,100 per person.

Start late or fall behind and the remaining burden increases. "Every single day, the biggest part of your day is fundraising. Fundraising is going to take up more of your time than sleep if you're a candidate," said Democratic strategist Tad Devine, who advised presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004....

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-070122money,1,6665354.story