Can $100M buy the presidency?
Sep 22, 2015, 1:06 PM | Updated: 1:13 pm
(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
Donald Trump’s decision to spend up to $100 million of his own money for his campaign shows desperation, not strength.
Self-funded billionaire candidates have a consistent record of failure in our nation, no matter how much they spend.
In 1992, Ross Perot blew $63 million — $107 million in today’s dollars — and did not win a single electoral vote.
In 1998, Democrat Al Chechi, who became known as “Al Checkbook,” was running for California governor and invested $58 million in today’s dollars to win just 12 percent of primary voters.
Republican Meg Whitman put a record-breaking $144 million into her 2010 California gubernatorial race and lost in a landslide. Mitt Romney’s first race for president cost him $57 million in 2008, but didn’t even win the nomination; four years later, he became GOP nominee without spending any of his own money.
Trump’s determination to try to buy the presidency with his own funds isn’t a demonstration of seriousness, but a sign of his limitations as a candidate.