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It's worth noting that on a quarterly basis that would be less than John McCain raised in the second quarter. To be fair to Thompson, his candidacy is still in the "testing the waters" phase, and under typical circumstances, it may be impressive for a non-candidate to raise more than $3 million in a given month. On the other hand, Thompson has chosen to do things the way he has, and skyrocketed to the top tier by dipping his toes into the race late, at a time when the waters were inviting for a viable conservative alternative. There are advantages to "testing the waters" (and avoiding a lot of disclosure requirements), but this is another example of the disadvantages. While this may be a fine number under normal circumstances, given all of the buzz Thompson is generating, it will be portrayed as a disappointment.

Meanwhile, Dave Weigel comments on a Thomspon speech on Saturday:

On Saturday Thompson spoke to the American Legislative Exchange Council conference in Philadelphia and ditched his usual conservative sloganeering for a speech on federalism. Depending on who you ask it either was politely, gamely received or it was a snoozer that was easily upstaged by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. "We had to nudge a woman at our table to wake her up," one attendee told me. Larry Eichel's report in the Philadelphia Inquirer found people who liked the speech but in a very meta sense: "it takes courage to do something more thoughtful and philosophical in this sound-bite culture." In other words: "it was boring but it's what he needs to do."

topics:
John McCain, Law