"Hard Times" for the Republicans

A couple of days ago, I posted on the rather desperate buildup to the Republican's biggest fundraiser of the year, the President's Dinner.

Well, as a comparison, take a look at the falling numbers from another major presidential fundraiser.

An even stronger measure of Mr Bush’s declining sway within his own party came on Thursday night when he addressed his party’s official convention at a gala fund-raising evening in Washington. .....

Mr Bush managed to raise $10.5m for his party at the event compared to $17m last year and $38.5m the year before. For the first time in many years both the Democratic presidential field and the Democratic congressional leadership are out-fundraising their Republican opponents by about 50 per cent.

So, today's question is: How does the Republican machine run without a big money advantage? Will we see a proliferation of 527 groups funded by the richest, or will they sit it out, too?