Giving, by Candidates
Via TBogg, a post about how Mitt Romney made donations (for the first time ever) to a number of right wing organizations (including the folks we admire at the National Review) back in December. Apparently, this was the first time he had contributed to any of these groups, and apparently, some of these groups went from dissing the man to being supportive.
Lest anyone think this idea is comes from the rarified brain of eitherGreg Mankiw or Glenn Hubbard, at least two of those first time donations, to the folks at the Federalist Society and our friends at Heritage, came before the worthies were attached to his campaign. Of course, it is possible the economists ran some numbers and pointed out that the NRO and various “Citizens for” (Life, Lower Taxes, etc.) organizations might have broader appeal than those who do nothing but write boring articles about the intent of the Founding Fathers.
I guess the lesson to all is… its not too late to demonstrate your convictions or otherwise make your quid pro quos if you want to run for President. On a related note, its probably not too late to create your own “Firefighters for” campaign either.
Full disclosure. No political campaign has sent me any money. Yet. But I’m still hopeful. If you find me writing good stuff about Sam Brownback or Tom Tancredo, you’ll know what happened.