PSYCH-OUT POLITICS

On the KY3 Political Blog, Dave Catanese writes about Hillary Clinton's campaign and its admission that Sen. Barack Obama may raise more money, a possibility that will be revealed when second-quarter fundraising closes on Saturday.

Dapper Dave quotes from the Clinton campaign blog:

"We expect to bring in about what we did in the First Quarter, or slightly more, which should put us in the range of $27 million. To put that figure in some perspective, it is more than any Democrat has ever raised in the second quarter of the "off" year. While that figure is record setting, we do expect Senator Obama to significantly outraise us this quarter," writes communications director Howard Wolfson on the campaign's blog today.

I always feel a bit queasy when I write strictly about money when measuring a candidate. It just seems wrong that we put so much of an emphasis on dollar amounts.

But that being said, the conventional wisdom is that if Sen. Barack Obama is able to outraise Clinton for a second consecutive quarter, it's a big story.

Sounds like Clinton's people are playing double-psych with the Obama camp. If Obama doesn't "significantly outraise" Clinton in Q2, he'll look like he fell short of expectations. If she raises north of $30 million and comes close to Obama's total, she'll be the winner.

Nothing but a ritual dance in the sun. No wonder so many people hate politics.