Republican presidential candidates are getting creative and stretching campaign finance law to make the cut. The Republican National Committee set minimum viability requirements that numerous candidates are having trouble meeting. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum a former software CEO who is financing his own presidential campaign has offered gift cards to donors in exchange for a contribution of at least . Burgum announced on s Inside Politics this week that he had met the donor threshold. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson recently picked up an idea first advanced by another Republican presidential contender entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and has decided to offer grassroots fundraisers a cut of the money they help collect on his behalf. The strategy has sparked a lot of questions. Two campaignfinance experts Ive interviewed say otherwise and argue that reimbursing a donor with a gift card could be construed as violating the federal law that prohibits straw donations the practice of giving money in the name of another person. But frankly many candidates face little danger of running into real trouble with regulators. Stay tuned. The polling picture still is coming into focus. The former president who leads the current polls certainly sounds as though hes not inclined to join the debate fray next month but also says he hasnt made up his mind. When you have a big lead you dont do it Trump said of debating during a Fox News interview earlier this week. Weve focused a bit on DeSantis and Hes running second to Trump and hes raised an enviable $1 million during the quarter. But that perhaps is not surprising given how large Trump his former bosemesis looms over the hardcore Republican base. Newer GOP entrants and former Rep. Will Hurd still appear to have a long way to go to secure the money to sustain their campaigns or even make the debate stage next month in Wisconsin. Over the weekend the campaign confirmed that it has trimmed some staff after some staffers in the race had reported that it had spent fewer than $100,000 in the first six weeks or so after entering the race. And about the general election money that cant be spent for the primary, that is general money that is needed for the general elections. To get it in your inbox sign up for free here. A version of this story appeared in s What Matters newsletter. You can also get it by signing up for the free What Matters email newsletter. To see the rest of Fredreka Schouten’s Inside Politics coverage of the Republican presidential race click here. For the latest from Inside Politics, visit s.insidepolitics.com. For more from CNN iReport, visit the iReport home page or the CNN home page. for the weekly Newsquiz, or click here for the newsquiz. To hear more stories from CNN news, head over to the CNN news page for the Daily Discussion or the Facebook page for The Daily Discussion. To the Mail Online news page, head to the MailOnline news page. The Daily Mail news page is the home of the Daily Mail, the Homepage and the iReporter.
The Republican National Committee raised more than $1 million for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The RNC raised $1.2 million for the Republican National Convention, the most for a presidential candidate since 1988.
