Virtual Voices  Free speech, money, and hitting singles
Campaign 2012  Money: It takes lots of it to run a presidential
campaign. "Hopefully we'll have a few memorable moments during
the Iowa debate and have a good showing in the straw poll," an
advisor to one of the low-profile candidates told me last week.
That was the key to keeping this candidate's fund-raising
spigots flowing and maintaining his viability in the 2012 race.
"We just need to keep hitting singles," the advisor said. But
there are others who are slamming home runs. Should we be
concerned?  Mitt Romney is the reigning Republican Bambino of
political fund-raising. The Super PAC backing him, Restore our
Future, had $12,209,371 on hand as of the June 30 quarterly
filing date. That's in addition to the $12,715,495 Romney's
campaign had in the bank. Now that Rick Perry has announced he's
in the race, keep an eye on the Super PAC Make Us Great Again.
Perry and friends are master fund-raisers, pulling in $104
million for his three gubernatorial rac