¿Cuánto cuesta presentarse a Presidente?

Pregunta y responde el New York Times:

(...) Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, appears to now believe that winning the 2012 Republican nomination will require him to raise $50 million. News reports originally suggested that he wanted to raise that in the first three months after he announces his campaign for president. But senior aides now say that is a total amount for the primary.

Compare that to 2007, when Mr. Romney raised about $23 million in the first three months and ended up spending nearly $110 million for the primary — $65 million that he raised from donors and another $44 million of his own personal fortune.

Could he really spend less this time around?

Well, in 2008, he announced for president on Feb. 13 and immediately began running television commercials in Iowa and around the nation to increase his name recognition. This time, he may not announce until April or May and so the amount of time he will be on the air will be far shorter.

And of course, his challenge is different this time. When Mr. Romney started out in 2007, few voters knew who he was and he registered in the single digits in national polls. Now, he leads in most surveys and name recognition is not an issue for him.

But if he captures the nomination, he will need to be prepared to raise and spend a lot more. Mr. Obama’s political fortunes have risen and fallen during the past two years. But there is little evidence to suggest that he won’t be a ferocious fund-raiser again once the general election campaign begins.

Besides Mr. Romney, there are other potential candidates who are poised to raise a lot of money. Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, could raise millions in the first few days after an announcement by tapping into the nationwide network of supporters who have fueled her rapid rise to stardom. And Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi, was a Washington lobbyist for years and can likely tap into that wealthy network if he runs.

Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, could also raise millions of dollars. The head of his finance committee is William Strong, the vice chairman of Morgan Stanley in Chicago. But Mr. Pawlenty comes from more modest means than Mr. Romney and is unlikely to be able to contribute much himself.

Republican candidates face an initial expenditure this summer: the Iowa straw poll, which can cost several million dollars for candidates who campaign aggressively to win it. That includes television and radio advertising and paying the cost of bringing activists to the August event.

After that, most of the money stays in one of three places — Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina, the first three presidential contests. But strategists warn against a so-called Huckabee effect. In 2008, Mr. Huckabee raised and spent very little until he scored a surprise upset in Iowa, winning the caucus.

Several million dollars poured into his campaign in the days after the Iowa victory. But Mr. Huckabee struggled to use that money effectively because he had spent comparably little to develop a campaign infrastructure in later states like Michigan, Florida, Nevada and beyond.

But perhaps the most dramatic object lesson of the 2008 campaign occurred at the very beginning of 2007.

In that year, Senator John McCain of Arizona drew up an initial budget that envisioned he would raise $48 million in the first three months of 2007 and another $23 million by the summer. That proved to be far too optimistic, and Mr. McCain’s campaign spending was too lavish, leaving the candidate broke by July.

Some candidates might have quit. But Mr. McCain let go most of his staff and headed to New Hampshire with just a handful of advisers and almost no money. He launched a campaign called “No Surrender,” and held town meetings all over the state.

His win in New Hampshire started the money flowing again and allowed him to revive the flagging operation and go on to capture the nomination. (...)