If raising money means everything in political campaigns, this year´s 2010 gubernatorial race is already over. The Democrats have lost.

Look at Monday´s campaign finance filings for 2009. The Republicans field consists of:

— Rick Snyder, a multi-millionaire who plunked down $2.7 million of his own money and then watched 10 political advisers and 11 staffers burn away $1.9 million of it on their own salaries and an unprecedented spending spree at a Mackinac Island party, where no expense was spared for him and a few hundred of his closest supporters. Now he´s cutting a check to run 60-second TV spots during the Super Bowl.

— Mike Cox, a sitting, two-term attorney general who´s been raising money for Nov. 2, 2010, since Nov 6, 2008 (seriously). The guy raised $1.8 million without the benefit of a full-blown fundraising team and is now walking around with $1.5 million.

— Mike Bouchard, the Oakland County sheriff, who ONLY started raising money in June and who ONLY managed to collect $888,000 when he started passing the hat around. He has nearly $700,000 left, enough to run ONLY 22 minutes of Super Bowl commercial time in the Grand Rapids media market.

— U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who´s on FOX News so often, you´d swear it was him, not Sarah Palin, who got his own show. The free media pop means he doesn´t need to squeeze in Super Bowl time between the GoDaddy girls and an infant financial investor for GOP voters to know who he is. That´s good for him. The money he raised isn´t a hell of a lot, comparatively, even though 2,655 people gave him what they could.

Meanwhile, here´s what happened on the Democratic side of the ledger by the end of 2009.

— Lt. Gov. John Cherry burned through nearly every penny of the $1.4 million his campaign raised just to pay its massive overhead. Salaries for 16 staff people, health benefits, cell phones, rent, parking. You find a bill, they paid it. That includes a $22,000 catering bill at the Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit. The weight of this enormous operation literally collapsed the campaign before Christmas.

— John Freeman, a little-known former state representative who quit the 2009 race shortly into 2010 because he felt like the $67,613 he had raised couldn´t make him competitive. Cherry had $117,000 left when he quit.

— Alma Wheeler Smith, a little-known state representative who says she is not quitting the race under any circumstance. She ended 2009 with $10,000 in the bank. By comparison, the average winning state House candidate in a mildly competitive race spends at least $30,000.

This isn´t good. Especially since Republican state Sen.Tom George, the guy nobody thinks has a snowball´s chance, is sitting on $100,000, 10 times more than Smith, the only official Dem in the race at this point.

The Democratic field, obviously, isn´t set. As many as five other Democrats may jump into the fray when it´s all said and done, but the campaign finance numbers released this week give proof to how screwed the Dems are right now.

It´s little wonder that labor union and party leaders convened an emergence powwow a couple weeks ago to interview any realistic Democratic candidate. They need to rally behind a consensus candidate to have a chance from a purely fundraising and organizational standpoint.

Whether "The Chosen One" is Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, former state Treasurer Bob Bowman, University of Michigan Trustee Denise Ilitch or former Genesee County Prosecutor Dan Kildee, he/she will be starting ´10 from butt scratch. (Endorsing moderate/conservative House Speaker Andy Dillon isn´t a realistic option for them.)

None of the aforementioned four candidates have any statewide name ID to speak of. Ilitch managed 17 percent in an EPIC/ MRA poll only because her old man owns the Red Wings, the Tigers and Little Caesar´s Pizza. The rest are all swimming in the same pool. Outside of their own universe, nobody knows them.

The odds against a Democratic victory are so great, it´d take a Disney-like storyline to make it happen. It´s like thinking the Detroit Lions can win the Super Bowl next year or some 18-year-old from Holt can be the next American Idol.

If it happened, it´d shatter the theory that a gubernatorial wannabe needs to start campaigning the day after the presidential election is over to win.

And, more important, kill the belief that money raised 10 months before an election means anything.

Attorney general race not much better for Dems

How ticked are you if you put money into both John Cherry gubernatorial campaign and Gretchen Whitmer´s A.G. race? A year ago, it seemed like putting money into Cherry and Whitmer was like buying Google stock 10 years ago.

Now, campaign finance documents show Cherry´s team squandered nearly all of the $1.4 million it raised in 2009 and Whitmer raised a nice $200,000 nest egg … only to drop out of the race. All told, around $1.6 million was spent on Democratic candidates who never made it to Groundhog´s Day.

The only other Democrat to raise money for an attorney general run? Attorney Richard Bernstein. He raised $5,000.

Schwarz 75% in for governor

Former U.S. Rep Joe Schwarz, R-Battle Creek, said this week he´s 75 percent "there" as far as making an independent run for governor.

The longtime state lawmaker, 2002 gubernatorial candidate and former Battle Creek mayor, said on City Pulse "On the Air" he needs to make sure he can continue teaching his political class at University of Michigan and keep his physician´s practice is in good shape before he hops into the ring.

Schwarz said the political environment is as strong as it´s ever going to be for an independent gubernatorial candidate. He vowed to be a one-term governor who would be willing to make the tough decisions to get the state "back on track."

Speak your mind … over here

Tea party and anti-government activists had hoped to rally up to 2,000 people at the Capitol today for the governor´s State of the State address, but they weren´t able to reserve the popular east stairs facing Michigan Avenue to hold their demonstration.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm blocked off the entire area a month ago from 4 to 10 p.m. "just in case" the governor wanted to use the space before or after the speech, a spokeswoman said, meaning the protesters were forced to build their own stage in the February snow and cold.

"She´s been consistent in abusing her authority as governor by taking any people who don´t happen to agree with her and shuffling them out of the way," said protest organizer Leon Drolet.

(Kyle Melinn is the editor at the MIRS newsletter. His column runs weekly. E-mail melinn@lansingcitypulse.com.)