How much does it cost to run for President?

Before I get ready for work I flip through the morning news "snews"> While I have no crystal ball it didn't take me long to figure out what the stories are going to be about. You can count on the first story being something negitive about the President, The GOP or the war in Iraq. Then they will have some amazing story of survival, next look for a story regarding some Hollywood screen star. The weather is spotted between the segments and a bid of local fluff such as the local government spending a buch of money for some study to see if we need a color inhanced veebel glocker or a new depth gage for the city swiming pool. The order may be different but no matter if it's ABC, CBS, or NBC the content is the same. Fox has some different things but pretty much the same stuff .
Every day we see Rudy G as the GOP leader and Mitt Romney has raised $X million. and the other side , the so called Democrats have Miss Hillery leading the pack followed by Borcc the Magic Politico that lives in DC and can do no wrong, follows closely.
Just in the past few days have we seen and heard about Fred Dalton Thompson. I seem the news folks have just found out that he may be running. And running he will. He has been in no debates to date, has not raised millions, has not announced that he is a candidate. But polls show he is in the number 2 spot!
How did he do it? Fred hasn't been sitting around twittleing his thumbs. It's called grass roots. He has been quietly meeting the folks out on Main Street USA via the internet and speaking at events.
One word of warning Mr. Thompson himself has said it is way too early to make any thing out of the current polls. The real race won't start until Sept or Oct of this year.
It is very possible for a third party candidate to make some headway this time. Both party bases are not over joyed with the present leaders.