The top of list people are already chis-crossing the country collecting political IOU’s and talking to Democratic campaign donors ….
Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders have distinct advantages over the rest of the field….
Those unable to reach certain money bench marks will NOT be able to serious mount nomination efforts going thru next year…..
Democrats preparing presidential runs in 2020 are waging aggressive fundraising campaigns this year, meeting with wealthy donors over private meals and spending millions of dollars to build up their online donor networks.
The early jockeying reflects concern that the sheer number of interested candidates will create a fundraising bottleneck in early 2019, possibly narrowing the field before the first debate for those candidates who can’t raise enough money to continue.
More than two dozen people are in the process of exploring campaigns to take out President Trump, but only a handful have the relationships with wealthy donors, significant personal wealth or small-dollar fundraising apparatus to raise the early money needed to mount a traditional campaign. The early advantage goes to those who hail from wealthy states, with broad networks of donors, such as California and New York, and those who will start the race with a national brand and large email lists of supporters.
Strategists say anyone seeking to challenge Trump will be expected to raise millions of dollars by the first federal fundraising deadline of March 31, 2019 — in checks that are likely to be capped by federal rules at no more than $2,800 each.
“I would say you have to have a path to raising at least $15 [million] or $20 million in that first quarter,” said Julianna Smoot, a Democratic consultant who oversaw then-Sen. Barack Obama’s 2008 fundraising effort. “And I think there may be four or five who will be able to do that.”
That presents an acute threat for candidates who have not established national fundraising operations, an advantage that would be held by two potential candidates, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former vice president Joe Biden, both veterans of previous presidential campaigns…..
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