This is what we Virginia Democrats are going to be up against this year in the governor's race between Bob McDonnell and either Creigh Deeds, Terry McAuliffe, or Brian Moran:Republicans on the national level also are expected to pour resources into this year's race...
Mr. McDonnell's January campaign finance reports also reveal five-figure contributions from donors in Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and New York. The Republican has more than $2 million on hand, his campaign said, and raised roughly $2.5 million since the beginning of 2008.
His donors include former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, who gave $10,000 and has since been named general chairman of Mr. McDonnell's campaign; H. Gary Heavin, the Texas-based founder of the fitness chain Curves International who donated $25,000; Randy Kendrick, the wife of Arizona Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick, who gave $30,000; and Edward Diefenthal, a Louisiana industrial company executive and big-money Republican backer who gave Mr. McDonnell $20,000.
[...]
Mr. McDonnell already has lined up big-name Republican support, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and conservative talk show host Sean Hannity — all of whom either have appeared or are slated to appear in Virginia to support the McDonnell campaign.
Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has held fundraisers for Mr. McDonnell in the District and in New York, and the McDonnell campaign stressed that the candidate will travel where he needs to in order to win in November.
"If national conservatives and national Republicans want to support us, we'll welcome their support," McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said. "We encourage it, we welcome it and we will travel to meet with people.
"This campaign will break every fundraising record in Virginia," he said. "I think that's the safest bet you can make."
Another safe bet we can make is that Democrats will only be able to compete with Bob McDonnell if they can keep pace with his national Republican fundraising tsunami. With Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, John McCain, Bobby Jindal and Sean Hannity pouring everything they've got into helping McDonnell, Democrats had better have a candidate who can at least keep pace. That's one of the many reasons why I support Terry McAuliffe, because this isn't beanbag, it's politics for high stakes.
Yes, in an ideal world I'd rather have a pure netroots fundraising model in place, where all donations were small, and where the candidate with the best grassroots campaign always won. But keep in mind, even Barack Obama, who raised about $500 million online and over $300 million from donations under $200, also raised $180 million in donations over $1,000, some of which he used to run a superb bottom up/top down campaign for President last year. This year, we can't allow Bob McDonnell to spend his way into the Virginia governor's mansion. That, combined with Virginia's almost complete lack of limits on campaign finance contributions, is exactly why I argue that we Democrats need a "fighter AND a fundraiser" for our gubernatorial nominee (as well as for its lieutenant governor, attorney general and House of Delegate candidates) in 2009.
UPDATE: I scanned the letter. See page 1 and page 2.
