But once it launched, the campaign appeared to be bedeviled by a lack of hard dollars that it needed to pay staff, travel the country and pay filing fees to state parties.
It's not that it's necessarily a case the Democrats have as much money as the Republicans - and we'll know more later this week on Friday there's going to be a filing report by the national parties - but if the key is that the Democrats across the country in this election cycle have proven that they have enough money to be competitive.
Refco's creditors are hoping the judge assigned to handle the firm's bankruptcy filing will order a speedy auction of the company to be conducted when parties meet on Monday morning in lower Manhattan.
Both parties have sought to use the focus on this year's April 17 tax filing deadline to gain a partisan advantage on what promises to be a critical issue in the fall campaign.
Fourth, the rules related to filing deadlines under the federal tax code create practical hurdles to allowing a trial court to compel the parties to file joint returns.