President Bush has raised lots o’cash

That’s the seven-and-a-half summary of this threadbare editorial in today’s New York Times: “President Bush’s Run for the Money.” For three paragraphs, the editorial details the various people and techniques behind the President’s hard money draw, all the while hinting at how unseemly it is before concluding: “All of Mr. Bush’s fund-raising seems well within the law.” (What, no Buddhist temples?)

Perhaps sensing that the editorial is nothing more than a long whine about how well the Republicans outpace Democrats in raising money, the Times tries to make a point by warning Dems that they shouldn’t abandon the spirit of campaign finance reform and fund private campaigns.

Judging by this related WashPost article “3 Candidates' Spending Tops Funds Raised in Quarter” that’s fully what I expect John Kerry to do. Kerry, Edwards and Gephardt are the candidates who have spent more than they have raised, so their campaign coffers are running low. Kerry has stated that he wouldn’t spend his wife Teresa Heinz’s ketchup fortune, but keep an eye out for a “privately” funded advocacy group for Kerry’s campaign if he continues to lag in the polls.