Elections are never over until they are over. As the old saying goes, the only poll that matters is the poll voters take on Election Day. But fundraising is important.

Sure, an argument can be made that there is too much money in politics. I have never really subscribed to that. If that panhandler is allowed to sit outside my car window at the local stoplight and that be protected by the 1st Amendment, then money donated to political candidates should be every bit as protected.

The only thing I ask is that I have full transparency in who donates. I enjoy going through campaign finance reports and many statewide candidates are used to me metaphorically tapping my watch on days when reports are due. It is always interesting to see who donates, who sometimes donates to more than one candidate on the same ticket.

I’m not a big believer that politicians are bought by the donors. For the most part, those with big pockets typically donate to candidates they already agree with versus trying to sway a candidate. Otherwise, most big-money donors write checks simply to ensure that when it comes time to schedule a meeting, that the door won’t automatically be closed to them.

The person with the most money does not always win the race, but the candidate barely treading water when it comes to fundraising nearly always loses. According to ABC News, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg set $1 billion on fire over a 100-day period to end up dropping out of the Democratic primary for U.S. president in 2020.

Bloomberg picked up a mere 46 delegates during that 100-day period. He needed at least 1,991 delegates to clinch the nomination. For comparison, then-former Vice President Joe Biden had 2,739 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination for president that year. If you can’t move a needle your direction with $1 billion, what can you do?

I wrote all of that to bring us to the West Virginia race for the next governor of the state. Between the end of April and the end of June, Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey raised more than $1.6 million, giving him more than $1 million in cash-on-hand for the next three-month period ending in September. Democratic Huntington Mayor Steve Williams only raised $46,010 for the two-month quarter that just wrapped, leaving him $52,846 in cash-on-hand.

I was curious about previous fundraising by candidates for governor, so I looked at the available records of the Secretary of State’s Office. By the time the 2020 election ended, Gov. Jim Justice raised more than $1.8 million for his second term race and first race as an elected Republican. His Democratic opponent that year, Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango, raised more than $1.6 million.

In 2016, Justice (then the Democratic nominee) raised more than $1.6 million and won, defeating former Republican Senate President Bill Cole who raised more than $2.3 million. It’s another case of having the most donations but not winning the race, though it should be noted that Justice (then still listed as a billionaire) dumped more than $3.8 million of his own money in that race.

In order to look at 2012, I had to turn to past news media reports. According to Ballotpedia, former Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin raised more than $1.5 million seeking a full term after winning a 2011 special election. He defeated Republican businessman Bill Maloney in 2011 and again in 2012, who only raised more than $387,000 in donations in 2012.

The lesson here is to win or even to be a real competitive opponent, a candidate for governor needs to raise at least $1 million. Williams raised $46,010. Maloney had raised more than $303,000 by the time of his first primary report. Cole had raised more than $1.3 million by the time of his post-primary report. Salango had raised more than $715,000 by his primary report.

We’re already halfway through July, so that gives Williams through the end of this month, August, and September to really start shaking down supporters. And as of Monday, we are 113 days away from the Nov. 5 general election. The clock is ticking.

Also don’t expect Morrisey to rest on his laurels. I have no idea if his $1.6 million for the quarter ($1.9 million if you count his April pre-primary donations) is record-breaking, but it has got to be in the top three. At lot of that haul was simply Morrisey’s team trying to get through the onslaught of the final two weeks of the primary. A good deal of the large-dollar donations on Morrisey’s most recent report were donors kissing the ring of the Republican nominee.

But Morrisey and third-party supporters (Club for Growth, Black Bear PAC, Americans for Prosperity) are not going to take anything for granted. They appear to subscribe to the Powell Doctrine, named for former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman (and later Secretary of State) Colin Powell. In short, the doctrine involves going into a battlefield with overwhelming force to secure victory. For example, the first Gulf War.

Williams is going to have to find a way to level the playing field, but $46,000 won’t cut it.