I referred yesterday to a Washington Post story which noted that political insiders were speculating that Terry McAuliffe might raise as much as $80 million dollars in a campaign for Governor of Virginia, up $10 million from the $70 million figure that had been bandied about just the previous week.
The McAuliffe camp has told me this evening that they have no idea where the $80 million or even the $70 million figure is coming from and that, if he decides to run, they do not expect to raise anywhere near this amount of money.
Besides setting the record straight, the comments from the McAuliffe camp seem to make good political sense. People want to vote for candidates because they like their ideas and are moved by their vision, not because they are political ATM machines.
For the past two weeks, the story line about McAuliffe seems to be entirely about the money he can raise. This is the kind of story that fascinates the insider community- consultants, media, pundits, and lobbyists. But it is, at best, irrelevant and, at worst, offputting to the wider public.
Look for McAuliffe to be talking about ideas for the future and not about dialing for dollars during the next few weeks.
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