I’m a bigger fan of Holly Bailey than I am of Newsweek as a whole, but as I read her analysis of the Charlie Crist–Marco Rubio matchup in the Florida GOP primary, I furrowed my brow when I encountered this passage:
The former Florida state House speaker [Rubio] lags way behind Crist when it comes to cash in the bank. According the latest campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Rubio had raised just over $1.6 million through Sept. 30, with roughly $930,000 in the bank — a pretty good sum for a guy challenging the establishment candidate. But it’s still not close to the more than $6.9 million Crist has raised this year. According to his FEC reports, the Florida gov still has just over $6.2 million in the bank. With the primary not scheduled until next August, Rubio has time to catch up, but more immediately, he has to raise doubts, not just among GOP primary voters but among national GOP donors and activists, that Crist is vulnerable. The Club’s ad attacking Crist was a big gift to the Rubio campaign, but, as Arian noted last week, Rubio is coming under increased scrutiny himself. He’ll need more than just the Club’s endorsement to remain competitive for the next nine months.
Having a lot of money is nice. But Jon Corzine just lost a governor’s race after outspending his rival 3-to-1, and Mike Bloomberg just outspent his closest rival 10-to-1, and narrowly won.
It’s better to have a message and a little money than to have a lot of money and no message.
UPDATE: Marco Rubio shares his thoughts on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with NRO.