HOW does a treasure chest boost a politician's odds of getting nominated as a presidential candidate? Barack Obama did well in fundraising in the second quarter of the year, comfortably beating Hillary Clinton (see chart). Perhaps as a consequence, the future odds of him becoming the Democratic candidate are almost as good as Mrs Clinton's, even though their respective poll ratings are much wider apart. On the Republican side, John McCain's dreadful financial position—he said recently that he has just $2m remaining of some $11.2m raised—is reflected in the poor odds of him becoming the candidate.

AFP