The Real Reason Health Care Reform is Hard—Hillary Clinton Leads the Presidential Candidates With $26 Million in First Quarter Campaign Contributions

Reading the press, it’s as though raising money for a presidential run is a sweepstakes to be won—like it’s something to be proud of.

Just exactly what should we all be celebrating?

Hillary Clinton leads the way with $26 million raised in the first three months of the year before the presidential election. Senator Obama is reportedly going to come in well over the $20 million figure and John Edwards has broken the old record with a now paltry looking $14 million in the first quarter.

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney is surprising everyone inside the Beltway with $23 million while Rudy Guliani as at $15 million and John McCain has collected $13 million.

To raise $26 million in 90-days, Senator Clinton had to raise $288,000 a day or $12,000 an hour!

When I began coming to Washington in the late 1980s, the constituency you represented probably counted the most, followed by how good your ideas were, and then followed by whether or not your company’s political action committee (PAC) gave the senator or representative maybe $1,000.

I am convinced that, in the wake of the 2008 presidential election, this country is going to have a major league debate about where our health care system will go.

I’d feel a lot better about that debate if constituency and ideas were more important than where the winning candidate raised $12,000 an hour.

Oh for the good old days when $1,000 bought you some quality access.

The system wasn’t anywhere near as corrupt—and, to the degree it was, it cost us a lot less to boot.