The 2012 Republican Presidential Candidates in Expensive Race, Cheap Primaries

If money makes the world go round, then buckle your seat belts because the 2012 presidential election is going to have us spinning fast. Between President Obama’s record breaking fundraising numbers and the cost of the candidates garnering support on the campaign trail, gathering dollars to become the future President of the United States is a billion dollar industry.

However in this pre-election period of spending money to raise money, many Republicans are cutting costs. Is it a reflection of the economic times we are living in or is there another motivation behind the frugality?

On Bloomberg Businessweek, Kristin Jensen and Jonathan D. Salant reported that “Even as experts predict that the 2012 presidential race will be the most expensive in U.S. history, a funny thing is happening on the way to the Republican nomination: It’s becoming one of the cheapest primaries in a more than a decade…The top nine Republican candidates spent $53 million through September, compared with $132 million spent at the same time four years ago. The sum is even lower than totals reported during the same period in the 2004 and 2000 primaries — when most candidates still were abiding by campaign spending limits in order to receive public matching money…In the crowded Democratic primary in 2004, the candidates had spent $58 million through Sept. 30, 2003. Four years earlier, a primary field of 10 Republican candidates had spent $68 million in the first three quarters of 1999.”

So why has the spending levels dropped for these candidates? First of all, there have been an abundance of televised debates (11 so far) which has eliminated the need of expensive commercial time. Secondly, if Obama is the supposed ‘King of Fundraising’, it seems to be that the Republicans are mere peasants in this area. Thirdly, the candidates are more organized and are focused on spending smarter on a smaller budget. With the economy being a major issue, many are showing that they are frugal business people.

Just because fewer dollars are spent does not mean the war for the presidential seat will be less intense than in previous years. If fundraising is the gas, then this political fundraising engine is just getting warmed up and I believe we haven’t even come close to seeing the battle that is ahead.