President Bush speaks at a Bush/Cheney 2004 fund raising dinner in Los Angeles, California, in June. He raised $5 million dollars for his re-election campaign in a one-day campaign trip through four cities. (Photo: Charles Dharapak/AP Wide World)

"You can be the most talented individual in the world, but if you don't have money, you are not going to get on the radar screen," says Gregory Payne, a professor of political communication at Emerson College in Boston.

Experts estimate that if you want to run as a Democratic candidate, you'll need to raise $20 million to $30 million just for the primaries and caucuses. Then there's the oodles of cash you'll need for the general election campaign once you're nominated at your party's convention.

Even if you run as a Democrat and win the nomination, beating incumbent President George W. Bush won't be easy. Bush is expected to raise upwards of $170 million. Why is money so important? You need name recognition. Who are you? What's your message?

Money will allow you to hire staff such as fund-raisers, strategists, press handlers, and to rent office space. It will buy you jet service so you can hopscotch quickly across the country, making as many campaign appearances as possible—all the dinners, barbecues, diners, town halls, parades, and other campaign appearances you'll make. And perhaps most importantly these days, money will buy you the expensive TV and radio commercials that will get your name out there.

In fact, you'll need to spend as much as 70 to 80 percent of your time fund-raising just to get enough money, Payne estimates. Most of that time will be spent making thousands and thousands of phone calls. That's because you need to butter up donors—you want to make sure these donors will come back and give you more down the road. If you don't, you're toast.

So get on the telephone, because you'll need to tap your friends. And their friends. And their friends' friends. And so on. You'll need their help to get thousands of people to donate up to $2,000 each, the maximum amount an individual can give under campaign finance laws.

Once you raise lots of cash, it's still no guarantee you'll win. Phil Gramm, a former Republican Senator from Texas, ran for President in 2000. He raised $20 million, yet he quit before the New Hampshire primary after losing in caucuses in Iowa and Louisiana. Even though he had the most money, he couldn't get his campaign message to catch on.

While cash is critical, winning can boil down to the public's mood at the election.

"Issues matter more than money," says Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "If the economy is in the tank, it won't matter how much money President Bush spends; the Democrat will likely win in 2004. Conversely, if the economy is doing well, Bush will win handily."