By Bernd Debusmann
“Part of the beauty of me is that I’m very rich. So if I need $600 million, I can put $600 million in myself. That’s a huge advantage … over the other candidates.”
So says real estate magnate and reality TV show host Donald Trump, talking about the 2012 US presidential elections.
It’s 18 months to go to November 6, 2012, an eternity in politics, but two things already seem clear: it will be the most expensive campaign ever and the line between the political fringe and mainstream politics will often be blurred.
First, the numbers. The opening of President Barack Obama’s election campaign on April 4 prompted a slew of predictions that he would
