Romney Proetected from Millinonaire's Amendment

For those who have read this blog for very long, they will know what I think of the Millinonaire's Amendment to the McCain-Feingold law on campaign finance. In sum, nothing but pure incumbent protectionism.

I hadn't thought of this before, but as The Hill points out, Mitt Romney's republican opponents, indeed if he wins the nomination, his Democratic opponent, cannot invoke the Millionaire's Amendment to counter any future decision to self-fund. The Millionaire's Amendment does not apply in presidential campaigns.

Now the Hill refers to it as a loophole, which is an unfair characterization at best. Congress didn't include presidential campaigns because a) very few sitting members of Congress or Senators run for president, b)they were more concerned about self-funded candidates opposing them for re-election, and c) most self-funded presidential candidates have not done well.

The latter is important in that self-funded candidates often end up running in isolation from voters. People who give money to a candidate are far more likely to vote (and vote for that candidate) than the general voting public. Plus there is probably a mental block to someone paying their own way to win the Presidency. People probably aren't aware that Romeny kickstarted his campaign with his own money and at this stage are unlikely to care. Romeny has raised the most money among GOP candidates in the first quarter and has spent his money relatively wisely at this stage of the game.

Since 1980, five major candidates, with Ross Perot and Steve Forbes as repeats, have self-financed their presidential runs to some degree, according to the FEC. Perot holds the record for most spent, using about $65 million of his own money in the 1992 general-election race.

“While the record shows self-financed candidates did not do well, candidates that combine their personal wealth with a fundraising base have done quite well recently,” said Meredith McGehee, policy director for the Campaign Legal Center, citing New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) as examples.

Romney has learned his lesson about self-funding. Soliciting contributions means soliciting ideas and building a campaign. Money doesn't win campaigns, organizations do and if you have to ask for money you can build an organziation.