Presidential race and Sun Tzu (#327, Topic P)

In 2000, when I translated Sun Tzu's classic as The Art of Leadership by Sun Tzu, I wrote 26 case studies specific to the book (two each for its 13 chapters). Of these, 11 are on USA's 2000 Presidential nomination process. In the preface, I explained my reasoning for including these cases as follows. "Sun Wu's leadership concepts and planning emphasis adapt well -- perhaps even better -- to politics. Politics is a zero-sum game at its purest. Its rules of engagement are cut-and-dry (vote count), its decision criterion is clear-cut (majority/plurality wins), and its end result is cut-throat (winner takes all). " In my very first case study, labeled Republican Party Presidential Nomination for 2000 - The Iowa Straw Poll, I discussed how a candidate may use the Iowa Poll and Sun Tzu's 5 factors of success in war (#326) to self-assess his/her relative attractiveness. Now that the 2008 nomination process is upon us, I am tempted to do the same. Though the earliest primary is about a year away, hopefuls are already jockeying for position. Indeed, a story in today's Washington Post states, in passing, that many have "referred to [this year's money race] as the first presidential primary." Fund raising may be equated to "Support", Sun Tzu's 5th factor of sucess in war, which he elaborated as "military organization, administrative direction, and fiscal appropriations." Fund-raising allows a candidate to ask himself/herself questions such as, as noted in my case, "Are my resources adequate? Do I have a support advantage?" According to today's Wall Street Journal, "on July 1, 1999, Mr. [George W.] Bush reported raising a record $36 million in six months. Within days, two Republican hopefuls ... dropped out of the race. ... By the end of the year, [two more] also quit after lagging in the money race." For the 2008 race, in reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, as of 12/31/06, Rudolph Giuliani, formerly mayor of NYC, led the Republican candidates with $2,093,993 in his campaign chest; among Democrats, Sen. Hillary Clinton, #1 among all candidates, had $11,021,087; Sen. Chris Dodd, #2 overall, had $4,925,913; Sen. Joe Biden, #3 overall, had $3,598, 479; and Sen. Barack Obama, #4 among Democrats and #5 overall, had $516,553. Several campaigns "are shooting for about $30 million [in their campaign chests] in that first [quarterly] report" due 3/31/07. At the moment, there are about 10 Republican candidates and an equal number of Democratic candidates. I also read that, to be viable, a candidate must generate between $50 million and $100 million. Thus, for the 2008 race, we may look forward to campaign spending of between $1 billion and $2 billion. My, my, democracy is an expensive proposition.