By
Leroy Jones, Jr.
Political Commentator & Columnist
Now
that the first quarter of campaign fundraising is over, maybe
we can move on down to the meat and potatoes of Election 2008.
Raising enormous sums of money for political campaigns plainly
is a constant operation in today's political environment.
In fact, all the candidates worked tirelessly to raise substantial
campaign funds to bolster their standing(s) as viable candidates
during this first quarter fundraising cycle.
Based
on the amounts in the till, there either will be great enthusiasm
over the amount of monies raised (e.g., $26 million raised
by Senator Hillary Clinton, the $25 million raised by Senator
Barack Obama, and the $23 million raised by Republican Mitt
Romney) or the lowered expectations of candidates like former
Republican NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani, who contends he entered
the race in mid-stream and did not have enough time to raise
the amount of cash that his competitors did.
Unfortunately,
the money race only matters to the "inside the
beltway" crowd. Washington insiders use these amounts
as a way to create a pecking order early in this race,
but all this talk about the enormous sums of campaign
cash is not too important to the every day folks outside
the beltway.
I
am pretty sure it is not a concern of the men and women
fighting in Iraq, the families living without health
insurance, victims of predatory lending, or the residents
of the Gulf Coast region who are still trying to recover
from the devastating effects of Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita.
At this point, the candidates’ ability to explain
a real plan for running our country is critical. The
questions we must continue to ask these Presidential
wannabes are: (1) why are you running; (2) what are
your goals; (3) how do you plan to achieve these goals
in four or eight years time; and (4) why should we trust
and hire you for the job of President of the United
States.
In
2008, the issues facing us as a Nation are too important
not to be taken seriously. We must demand and expect
answers to our questions or discard those who talk the
talk but are incapable or unwilling to walk the walk.
Anything less will be unacceptable to any thinking person.
Leroy
Jones, Jr., is the creator of PoliticalJones.com
and a Political Commentator and Government Affairs Consultant
based in Washington, D.C. He is a regularly scheduled
guest on "The
Right Side with Shelley Wynter" daily radio
show on WAOK-1380 AM (Atlanta/CBS), XM Satellite Radio,
Blacknews.com and various other media outlets. Email
Mr. Jones at ljones@politicaljones.com
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