What are these "going nowhere fast" candidates thinking?

Politics & Elections
21

Well, it depends on how you got your name out there. Sure, with the current primary, Trump is going to squash a lot of these guys, but if they have a good showing at a debate, it gets their name out there for the next election. Trump will be term limited, so they’ll have to find someone new, and “Hey, Bob Noname came across pretty well last time. He wasn’t ‘ready for the job’ then, but 2028 is another matter…”

You can’t win an election if people don’t know who you are, so step one is looking decent in a high profile event. And let’s face it, with another clown car primary coming down the pipes, it won’t be hard to come across as “The Sensible One”, even if you lose this round.

22

Trump can run as many times as he wants as long as he keeps losing.

23

He will eventually be term limited by the impermanence of the human condition.

24

If Republicans had a chance they’d give him as many terms as he wants, so betting on the Grim Reaper is a safer bet.

25

Pete Buttigieg is a good case in point. He had no chance of becoming President when he ran. But he raised enough awareness to get himself into a cabinet position. That was pretty much entirely due to his presidential run-- Nobody would ever have heard of him otherwise.

Now, he just might have a chance at the Presidency somewhere down the line. But even if he doesn’t, and if Secretary of Transportation is the high-water mark of his career, well, that’s a pretty high mark, certainly much higher than Mayor of Terra Haute.

26

Aside from the mentioned cynical, but accurate, reasons, some of them are surely thinking this:

27

I’m still slightly dumbfounded that he made it to a Cabinet post. No disrespect to Pete, it’s just not where I expected him to end up when he started.

28

My understanding is that Pete’s doing a pretty good job so I wouldn’t be surprised if he continues to find himself in such positions going forward. He really is a good example of what can happen to the right person if they just need some exposure to open sone doors.

29

Another line of thinking might be predicting that the current leader in the polls is going to self destruct and drop out for health or legal reasons and leave a huge void of voters ripe for the taking.

30

Right, and assuming everyone will slide up a notch on the totem pole each time someone drops out. So if you are way down in the polls now, as people drop you could find yourself in 6th, 5th, or 4th place, and be seen with some legitimacy the longer you hang-on. While that may not exactly translate into the nomination, it is an elevated profile for cabinet positions, as noted, or at least some lucrative TV or book deals for a while.

31

Dying would be a very serious gaffe for the frontrunner to commit.

32

FWIW, there 268 people who have filed with the FEC as Republican candidates for president in the 2024 election.

Seven of them have raised more than $1,000,000 and I would be shocked if anyone could correctly name all seven without looking it up.

CASTRO, JOHN ANTHONY - $20,000,000
TRUMP, DONALD J. - $18,272,903.09
RAMASWAMY, VIVEK - $11,418,448.56
HALEY, NIKKI - $5,125,430.77
JOHNSON, PERRY - $3,763,395.5
SCOTT, TIMOTHY E. - $1,646,201.66
ROBERTS, ROLLAN II - $1,278,180

On the Dem side there are 151 candidates registered with the FEC and only Joe Biden has raised over $1,000,000 (Marianne Williamson is pretty close to a mil).

There’s some point in the list where the, “But Obama,” and, “Auditioning for a cabinet position,” arguments no longer apply. Some (the vast majority) are just cuckoo for cocoa puffs.

Source: Browse Candidates for president | FEC

33

Anyone with $5,000 to blow can register to run for president. So it’s not a surprise there are hundreds of people who did.

34

I was more shocked at who was missing from that list. But the data from your link shows $0 raised so I assume Meatball Ron just hasn’t reported his raised funds yet.

35

That’s a suspiciously large and round number for ole John Anthony, whose highest claim to political prominence is finishing sixth in a special election to replace a dead North Texas Congressman.

36

Is he trying for some name confusion hijinx with the Castro brothers?

37

I think that’s as of the last quarter’s financial disclosure. Before Ron was officially a candidate. Or something like that. He clearly has millions.

38

I think that was probably his play when he raised money through the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue for the 2021 congressional election. He’s no longer listed there, but he could still be milking liberals elsewhere with his last name and his lawsuits against Trump.

39

Here’s what happens to candidates’ leftover money

How do you define personal? Paying the water bill is right out. Helping run for a different office to get more paying work is allowed. Donating it to PACs that support your most favored political causes is also allowed and might be seen as having a personal benefit.

40

There are ways, though, to make sure that “payments for campaign expenses” end up back in your pocket, or that the “campaign expenses” were what you wanted to spend it on anyway. Want a vacation in Hawaii? Give a stump speech there; now the trip is a campaign expense.