Among the steep hills to climb for quickly diminishing field of GOP candidates is the cost of competing in the early primary states.
Added to the exorbitant price tag on funding grassroots organizations both in Iowa and New Hampshire is the ballot access fee in South Carolina.
At $40,000 just to get a candidate’s name on the ballot, GOP contenders are measuring the cost and quickly coming to the conclusion that hard-cash fundraising, polling and good debate performances are essential to staying in the fight through the first three primary states.
That high cost is one of the many things cited by Perry and Walker insiders for why they ultimately chose to end their White House bids.
Despite that Super PACs have changed the landscape of presidential politics, there are many costs associated with national operations that legally can only be paid directly by the campaign. Staffers and ballot access fees are among them.
GOP political strategists are already predicting that the exits of Perry and Walker will probably serve as the start of a domino-effect in which more candidates, including Pataki, Gilmore, Graham, Santorum, Jindal and perhaps even Huckabee may soon be among the long list of “also-rans”.
