The chart above shows the self-reported numbers for fourth quarter campaign donations for Democrats. Bernie Sanders led everyone with $34.5 million -- followed by Pete Buttigieg ($24.7 million), Joe Biden ($22.7 million), Elizabeth Warren ($17 million), and Andrew Yang ($16.5 million).
The media is making a big deal about Sanders leading the field and getting his biggest donation numbers of the year. And I agree that these numbers are important -- for all the candidates. But we need to keep one thing in mind. The nomination is not won by who has the most money (or who has the largest crowds or who is leading in the polls).
If it was determined by money, then Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer would have a huge lead over all the other candidates -- because they have spent more than all the other candidates have raised. But they aren't leading, because the race isn't determined that way.
What do these numbers mean? It means that the five candidates in the chart (Sanders, Buttigieg, Biden, Warren, and Yang) have enough money to compete for the nomination -- and so do Steyer and Bloomberg. But while candidates need money to compete, that money is no guarantee of winning.
Only one thing determines who wins the nomination -- VOTES (which translate into delegates). And staring in about a month, the voters will begin to tell us who the nominee will be.
