Monday, June 05, 2006

Too low --- at least 9 million.

Yeah, I'll take the over, too. It depends, of course, on how close he is. If he's getting killed, safe bet on the under. But if he's close to second, or in second, go with the over.

I think Gabrieli's point is that public financing should be available - for ordinary, working folks like me, for example, who could only raise about $5k in very small donations for a Congressional race in 1998. :-)

I hear you, Tony, and there's something to that. Then again, Patrick and/or Reilly can force Gabrieli to adhere to a predetermined spending limit by opting in, which is why I can't see his argument as being totally high-minded.

I'll go with 9 million. No matter what it is, I think it's great that he will be forced to say it by Friday.

wayyyyyyyyyyy more than 9 million.

Deval has more than enough to finance his own campaign as well. And he should!

I don't see anything wrong with Gabrieli's stance. In usual fashion, Patrick decried his decision, stating that the voters overwhelmingly support this as a spending cap. The fact is, only 7% opted to contribute last year. Hardly 'overwhelming.

I agree with the fellow commenter, public campaign financing should go to middle incomers, not those who own over 6 mil in real estate. That's insulting.

I do think at least one of the candidates should take the financing to impose the cap. Otherwise things would just get out of control. Personally I would have liked to have seen a negotiated cap done at the convention through the campaigns and monitored by the party thereby leaving the money for the other races, but if this is the only way to do it, so be it.

As for a guess, I am going with the WAY over. Put me down for $10 Million, a double digit, damaging primary campaign, just like the kind Gabrielli himself warned against on NECN in January, which will once again cost us the corner office. However my hope is something in the sub $5 Million range that will give everyone enough air time to get name recognition going in to the general without turning it in to an air war. Lets see what happens Friday.

I neglected to put my guesstimate in earlier- i'll say 7 mil, and as far as negative campaigning goes, I certainly hope not. We need to bear in mind that it's easy to spend alot of money without being negative. One mailing state-wide is extremely expensive all by itself.

Bloodied post-primary candidates dont advance the cause, my money's on Reilly for going negative. I hope I'm wrong.