Will it be the wealthiest contender who gets the GOP prize?

After Florida on Tuesday the whole nature of the battle for the Democratic and Republican nominations changes and, more than at any stage so far, the importance of money to fund a campaign becomes critical. For a week on Tuesday there will be primaries in states that make up nearly half the population of the US and it’s going to be very hard to make a big impact across such massive groups of voters without resources.

During the week the Wall Street Journal looked at the whole issue of campaign finance amongst the GOP candidates and the table above is reproduced from the article. From reading this the conclusion is quite stark – Mitt Romney is the wealthiest contender and has the ability to spend massively in this crucial phase.

For Romney has been able to dip into his personal resources and self-finance – an option that is not open to the current front runner John McCain, Rudy or Huckabee.

I’m continuing to maintain a biggish position on Romney because he’s in with a good chance in the winner-takes-all election on Tuesday and can outspend everybody else the following week.

He’s also the candidate who is most favoured by the GOP establishment. Romney is 2.1/1 second favourite on Betfair with McCain odds-on at 0.87/1.

Mike Smithson