Conventional wisdom and history both have projected that the 2012 GOP primary, especially after its reorganization by the RNC, may likely be decided as early as April of next year.
But the landscape of the race is changing rapidly as multiple candidates have hauled unprecedented levels of financial support that could prove to make next year’s primary the longest drawn-out race in history.
Jeb Bush came out of the gate early with expectations of raising as much as $100 million in a single quarter, and his fundraising numbers are ‘historic’ according to comments he made earlier this week.
Not to be outdone by his fellow Floridian, Sen. Marco Rubio has allegedly pulled in $20 million in donor pledges within the last two weeks alone, which when added to his previous fundraising could be a total twice that amount.
Similarly, an independent political committee supporting Sen. Ted Cruz has said it hauled in at least $31 million in a single week while a Super PAC backing Gov. Scott Walker garnered pledges of nearly that amount.
All told, the month of April alone could represent as much as a quarter of a billion dollars either raised or pledged among the top-tier candidates in the GOP race. If the trend continues, the GOP nomination added to Hillary’s primary war chest could hit the $1 billion mark before a single candidate ever gets an official party nomination.
