Dem presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee enjoying contributions totaling a whopping $30,000

If you're one of the Democrats who are constantly screaming about the evils of money in politics, Lincoln Chafee may be your man. Unlike the other Dems running for the 2016 nominee, Chafee can stand at the podium and proudly proclaim that there is no money involved in his campaign. Honestly. …Pretty much none whatsoever.

---

Lincoln Chafee has taken in donations totaling about 30 grand. As if that's not bad enough, his struggling campaign actually owes its candidate a much more substantial sum of money, because Chafee himself loaned the effort $364,000. As the AP reports:

Donors have given just $30,000 to Lincoln Chafee's Democratic run for president, leading him to acknowledge that Democratic competitor Bernie Sanders is filling the role he hoped to play in the 2016 contest. Chafee lent his campaign $364,000, according to federal campaign finance filings. The former Rhode Island governor trails by a wide margin in fundraising.

"A wide margin" is putting it mildly. Currently, Hillary is sitting atop a war chest that consists of the $45 million she's managed to raise in just the last two months, plus whatever cash has mysteriously managed to follow her home from the Clinton Foundation. That's a little better than 1,500 times Lincoln Chafee's "haul." Even Bernie Sanders, anti-corporate hero to the hard left, has been able to rack up $15 million since entering the race.

"I always thought that there was fundraising potential for an honest progressive candidate," Chafee said in a statement. "Sen. Sanders is filling that role at present."

...And there it is. Lincoln Chafee was hoping to be the "old, white, male, even-more-left-wing alternative to Hillary" and Sanders came along to steal his thunder. Still, Chafee isn't giving up. He may be in dire straits now, but he has a plan to turn things around. Step one is to hire a few professional cash-grabbers who know how to make the whole "money in politics" thing work.

Chafee said through a spokeswoman Monday that he knows his fundraising has to improve and is considering hiring professional fundraisers. But spokeswoman Debbie Rich said Chafee is not questioning his viability in the 2016 contest. "He is looking forward to being in Iowa with the other candidates," she said. The cost of running a successful 2016 bid is widely expected to top $1 billion. Candidates must file their initial fundraising reports, covering April through June, by the end of Wednesday.

Only a billion? Heck. Chafee's well on his way. Once people outside of Rhode Island learn his name, the money should start pouring in. If he loaned the campaign $364,000, and raised another $30,000, he only needs about $999,606,000.00 more! We're sure he'll have that in no time.