Morning Glory: Name the veep now

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No matter what results are delivered by the New Hampshire electorate tonight, the GOP nominee — whether former President Trump or former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley — has a huge incentive to name a running mate soon: hard dollar contributions.

Name him or her and wind that running mate up and send them off on the fund-raising circuit. Even if Trump and Haley have an extended battle ahead, both would benefit from tapping their preferred partner on the ticket early.

Money contributed directly to a specific candidate is "hard money" and is limited in the amount that can be given (in 2024 it is $3,300), while indirect contributions to political action committees supporting the GOP ticket are known as "soft money."

Candidates control the hard dollars, but not the soft money raised by Super PACs. Hard money can also be used to buy advertising at the best rate available from a radio or television outlet, while soft money gets no such guarantee on rates. A "hard dollar" is much to be preferred to a soft one. To get the "hard dollars" it helps to make a "hard ask" — by the candidate to a small group in a room where everyone can see, meet and greet and chat with the candidate. Thus, it has always been and thus it will always be.

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Which is why the GOP vice presidential nominee should be vetted and named early, rather than later in the cycle. Once a running mate is named by the nominee, that would-be veep packs a traveling bag and begins the endless tour of donor events. With eight months stretching out between Super Tuesday on March 5 and Election Day on November 5, there are 240 days full of donor events.