2010 Campaign's Self-Funder Candidates Come Down To The Wire

If there's one thing that we've learned from our periodic examinations of the 2010 campaign's self-funders, it's that self-funding your own campaign is a pretty bad idea unless your name happens to be Michael Bloomberg.

If there's one thing that we've learned from our periodic examinations of the 2010 campaign's self-funders, it's that self-funding your own campaign is a pretty bad idea unless your name happens to be Michael Bloomberg. This year, the ten people who have spent the most money from their personal fortunes are batting .500. That's a lot of wasted money -- $71 million, if you're keeping score. But that's still just a drop in the ocean -- Meg Whitman has invested $140 million into her gubernatorial campaign alone. (The thought of analyzing that in terms of opportunity cost is a little bit terrifying!)

Nevertheless, rich people with political ambitions that would help them to become even more rich are still out there. We've added some of the remaining self-funders we opted out of highlighting back to this most recent mix, for a total of twelve. Here's the thing to note: if the current HuffPost Pollster models for each of these races holds true, then ten of these twelve will have essentially set millions of dollars on fire.

MEG WHITMAN, REPUBLICAN (CA-GOV)

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