Looming 2020 deadline triggers wild chase for cash

[DonViejo]

‘We have two really big online behemoths, then we have the rest,’ said one Democrat.

By CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO 03/26/2019 05:05 AM EDT

Democratic presidential candidates are on a white-knuckle ride to March 31, the quarterly reporting deadline that will signal who’s rolling in cash and who’s scraping just to establish viability.

All too conscious that the numbers they report will be viewed as either a show of strength or the first sign of weakness, the campaigns are furiously chasing dollars to bulk up their totals, while quietly managing expectations behind the scenes with staffers, supporters and the media.

“For candidates who got in early it will be a much more significant test than those who have only just jumped into the race in the last few weeks,” said Joel Benenson, a former top adviser to President Barack Obama and the chief strategist for Hillary Clinton in 2016. “Rightly or wrongly, the political press is going to treat the filings as the first ‘ballot.’ So, it’s important both for optics, but also as a warning light for campaigns that have performed less well than others.”

The Federal Election Commission deadline looms especially large this year. In a crowded field in which it’s difficult to draw sharp distinctions between candidates, the first campaign finance report of the election cycle promises the first quantifiable measure to assess how the nascent campaigns are faring.

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/26/2020-democrats-fundraising-donations-1236034

[Stuart G]

1. The coming deadline may look signicant in some ways. But there is one fact in my opinion

that is far more important in my opinion...And that fact is:

............................. We have 19 full months until the 2020 election.

........................Yes 19 months. It is the future..................................................................

[SFnomad]

2. Yep, 19 more months .. and people are breathlessly posting poll after poll

10 more months until the first primaries.

And they post these polls like they seriously mean anything, yet.

[marylandblue]

3. Buttigieg said he isn't doing that, after exceeding his original 3/31 goal twice.

He is really running a different campaign. No breathless emails in giant font plastered with donation buttons. No "surveys" that are just donation hooks. Normal emails in normal fonts explaining what he is doing and where the money is actually going.

So I donated.