Clinton, McCain burning money, building organizations

This Washington Wire piece references political insiders speculating that both McCain and Clinton are burning money much faster than opponents primarily by trying to buildout their nationwide networks in an effort to "tie up" state level political figures to prevent them later going to rivals.

However, there's also a second level to this. A couple days ago, I stated my impression that Clinton was spending alot of money "buying" endorsements. What I was implying is that the Clinton campaign is taking on state level political operatives tied to key politicians to obtain the politician's endorsement.

In other words, she "engages" key people on Governor X's (Senator X's, Congresman X's) political staff as state consultants and then the Governor endorses Clinton.

I can't provide cases, but that's the impression I have, and if that's what they're doing, it's very expensive because they'll be paying that staff for years.

This is all part of the politics of inevitability, but it makes for a very "front end" spending strategy, and if "inevitability" doesn't scare off the challengers, that money committed now may be seriously missed in November, December, and January.

Just thinking out loud on a quiet day.

(AND, as far as I can tell, there has still been no McCain appearance since he was depantsed by the Baghdad press corps on Sunday. (He is still running for President, right?)

5 days later, and the watch continues....)

Update: McCain is on 60 Minutes, but it sounds like the interviews were before the Baghdad stroll, so the watch continues.