How Much Money Do Politicians Need To Run For Office In Wyoming?

The common misconception in politics is that the person who has raised the most money will probably win the election.

When billionaire Michael Bloomberg entered the Democrat primary race for president he had all of the other candidates scared of his billions. "You can't buy the presidency," Candidate Bernie Sanders yelled. Bloomberg spent about one hundred million on advertising in a few weeks and was out of the race in under two months. All that money was spent and he just never gained any traction with the voters.

Here in Wyoming, many candidates lack the funds needed to mount a good campaign. Fundraising is hard when there isn't any name recognition and no connections. To run a successful campaign both are needed.

But having a lot of cash on hand does not guarantee victory. In Wyoming's last race for governor 2 billionaires ran at the same time, Foster Fries and Sam Galiotos. Both lost to a man with far less money, Mark Gordon.

A candidate needs just enough money to run ads and travel to meet voters. Traveling will have to include hotel and food along with fuel, and so on. The rest is all about appealing to the voters.

Wyoming's lone representative in the U.S. House, Liz Cheney,  has about 2 million dollars in her campaign war chest. That should be more than enough to run and win reelection. So, why is she trying to raise a pile more?

Former President George W. Bush will headline a fundraiser for Cheney on Oct. 18 in Dallas, a Republican source familiar with the event confirmed to Fox News on Wednesday morning. (FOX NEWS).

Some complain about her raising money from out of state. They don't want their representative to be beholden to any other interest than Wyoming interest. But that is not so realistic when one looks at how much money there is to be raised in this state. There is only so much to go around. Many candidates must look to outside money yet try to find donations from those who don't expect something in return. That's not easy to do.

So now we speculate. Is Cheney raising all of this money just to run for reelection or does she need it for something else? Has she reached the point where perhaps she has realized she has blown it with the Wyoming Voters? Where is she going with all of this?

Liz Cheney's goal, as she has stated, is to shake the Republican Party of Trump and get them back on the road to true conservative values, more like what we saw when Ronald Regan was president. Such a campaign will take a lot of money.

Perhaps her goal is to start a campaign to convince Republicans to take another direction. One that is truly conservative, as she has stated, but not under the leadership of someone as flamboyant as Trump.

Any guess you or I have is pure fantasy and speculation. We will just have to wait and see.

What we do know is, at this point, the key to winning reelection in Wyoming is not more money. She will have to reconnect with the voters. Money can't buy that.