Sanders campaign says it has raised $6 million in its first day

[Gothmog]

28. Washington Post-Why Sanders's money haul doesn't mean very much

I really love the Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/20/why-sanderss-money-haul-doesnt-mean-very-much/?utm_term=.e4e0b398fff7

For someone with nearly universal name recognition, an extensive donor list and a long run-up to his announcement, Sanders’s haul shouldn’t impress knowledgeable political watchers. (Should Joe Biden announce, I would bet his 24-hour fundraising total will dwarf Sanders’s total. A former vice president shouldn’t have to lift a finger to trigger a flood of money.)

More to the point, fundraising totals, I would argue, have as much predictive value as, say, poll numbers nearly a year before the Iowa caucuses (Feb. 3, 2020). Ask Ron Paul ($40 million raised in 2012, zero primary victories) or Jeb Bush ($155 million raised by his campaign and outside groups). Ask Hillary Clinton, whose fundraising prowess in 2008 didn’t secure the nomination and in 2016 struggled to defeat Sanders before losing to Donald Trump. (In the general election, Clinton raised about a quarter of a million dollars more than Trump.) Money only gets you so far and in some instances conveys an unwarranted front-runner status (e.g., Jeb Bush) that contributes to the perception of underperformance if the candidate doesn’t win in early states.....

Finally, Sanders has another obstacle that may undercut any money advantage he has. Ronald Brownstein explains that after Iowa and New Hampshire, “the next month of the primary calendar is dominated by states across the Sun Belt where non-white voters comprise a large share, and often an absolute majority, of the electorate.” He writes:

The pivot begins with Nevada and South Carolina, where contests will be held in the second half of February. The tilt toward diversity then explodes in early March when big Sun Belt states from Florida, North Carolina and Virginia in the southeast to Arizona and Texas along with California across the southwest will all crowd together on the calendar. . . .

That could advantage the candidates best positioned to appeal to minority voters, particularly African Americans -- a list led by black Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, as well as former Vice President Joe Biden, who’s still considering whether to run.