but this is a different situation. it s different for one reason because barack obama is not yet running against anyone, for all intents and purposes. four years ago he was running against hillary clinton. this was an incredibly competitive race and there s nothing like competition to drive dollars. so until he really has a republican candidate to directly run against as opposed to sort of running against mitt romney or sort of running against a republican, then the cash probably isn t going to flow in nearly as fast as he would like it to. so if mitt romney does establish himself as the true challenger to barack obama going forward, then you can probably expect that the people who are excited about barack obama or who, you know, may be on the fence about their support for him are going to consider donating a lot today at this juncture, which for all intents and purposes is still early in the game. david levinthal from politico. i m sorry your beef has to exist, but given it does, i