from the NY Times..
Through just the second quarter of the year, at least 42 House and Senate candidates — 7 Democrats and 35 Republicans — in 23 states had already donated $500,000 or more of their own money to their campaigns, according to the most recent data available from the Center for Responsive Politics. That list does not even include governors’ races, and the roster promises to grow as the campaign season progresses and spending escalates.
Historically, self-financed candidates have tended to lose. The National Institute on Money in State Politics recently found that of those candidates who received more than half of all campaign contributions from themselves or an immediate family member, only 11 percent won from 2000 to 2009. But this year might be different, with a down economy making it harder for traditional candidates to raise money, and with anti-incumbency fever at record levels.
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Mr. Greene, though, is the biggest surprise so far.
A Democrat who had been a Republican; a brash, gold-watch-and-Prada-sunglasses-wearing investor with friends like Mike Tyson and Heidi Fleiss, even he admits he has been surprised by how quickly his campaign has picked up support. He entered just before the filing deadline in April. Democratic officials laughed him off initially. But not anymore. Recent polls show that Mr. Greene, 55, has pulled roughly even in the primary with Representative Kendrick B. Meek, the Miami Democrat who had been the party favorite, though Gov. Charlie Crist still leads as an independent in a three-way general election.
Mr. Greene’s campaign finance report filed last week starkly illustrates the impact of his wealth.
He took in just $3,036 in outside contributions, while lending himself — and spending — $5.9 million in the second quarter, not far off from what Mr. Meek has raised in 18 months.
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Mr. Greene’s claims have also come under scrutiny. In an interview, he said hundreds of people were hired to work on buildings he invested in since he started buying properties in the 1970s in Massachusetts, where he grew up.
But most of his fortune, estimated at $1.4 billion by Forbes in 2008, comes from derivatives that let him profit from the collapse of subprime mortgages. Mr. Greene described this as an underdog’s victory: “I went up against the big banks and won,” he said — even though he first needed two of those banks, Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase & Company, to grant him special status as an institutional investor, rather than as an individual.
Ultimately for many voters, it will come down to trust. Can these privileged candidates be trusted more than traditional politicians to fight for those who are struggling? Mr. Greene, again, is an extreme test case. He speaks often on the stump about working as a busboy at the Breakers resort in Palm Beach to help pay for college. But these days, he
lives in an oceanfront mansion when he is not on one of his yachts or his plane with gold seat-belt buckles. more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/us/politics/23self.htmlGreene sounds like a arrogant egotistical scoundrel just trying to buy the election like another one of his many possessions. Sickening.
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