It’s been a very long time since there was a presidential election without either an incumbent or a sitting VP in the race for one of the parties. And while both parties have been winnowed out most of the longshot candidates, there is still more than enough competition for convention delegates to keep the campaign funds flowing.
As we’ve been predicting for months, many of the candidates are spending cash as fast as they can raise it, and diverting money away from staff paychecks and other frivolities as they struggle to simply remain in the race.
However, the New York Times reports that the well-heeled campaigns of Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) are already spending cash on national ad flights. This is all thanks to Super Duper Tuesday.
In years past, the primary schedule was strung out allowing candidates to focus on one or a handful of states, and when the states were in the handful category, they were often at least located near one another.
The February 5 contest will feature over 20 geographically diverse states. A candidate can’t be 20 places at once, so a strong advertising budget, along with effective ground forces, will go a long way to determining who emerges from that key date on the campaign calendar.
From CQPolitics, here are the states holding election events that day: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho (D only), Illinois, Kansas (D only), Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana (R only), New Jersey, New Mexico (D only), New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah.
