Republicans, particularly high-level consultants, have an ongoing love affair with self-funded candidates. Steve Forbes, Peter Coors, even Ross Perot all went down in a blaze of little glory. The current chapter involves former anti-Reagan independent turned Conservative darling Mitt Romney. During an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, Romney suspended his presidential campaign and urged conservatives to rally around presumptive nominee Senator John McCain. Romney spent approximately $35 - 40 million of his personal fortune pursuing the ultimate prize in geopolitical power. Romney played a great game, followed all the rules, he knew his target audience and how to market his message.

Romney knew the political truth. Money is critical to attracting seasoned politicos, strategists, media gurus, pollsters and ground game operatives. Money buys name ID. Money buys institutional know-how. But money cannot purchase likability. Money alone cannot organically remake a man, or woman, into a president. Voters expect more. They want wisdom - not cynicism. Voters want humility, not false modesty.

Voters want authenticity. They expect a president to be presidential, and by extension, be as street-wise as he is world-wise. When voters detect superficiality, they hit the eject button. In the hours before Romney spoke to the packed ballroom, rumors spread like wildfire. It was remarkable, conservative insiders were in the fight for Mitt - ready to campaign all the way to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis this September. Then, as if to remind voters across the country why he was not yet ready to be president, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney delivered red meat remarks: "If America doesn't change, we might turn into the France of the 21st century. Another great nation, but not a world leader."

Romney's arrogance, ignorance, and total lack of cultural understanding or geopolitical finesse is exactly why he lost his 2008 bid for the presidency. Americans are tired of the "ugly" label - and with this election, they are bucking pollsters and pundits to effect real change. We understand building strong relationships with our allies, like France, is critical to national security - even when political leaders do not. The YouTube, UStream, instant news cycle is a reality every pol must face.

Words matter. The President of the United States is our ambassador to the world. Etiquette and protocol are important. Mitt Romney's sell-out to the isolationist, boycott crowd was but one breath away from Pat Buchanan 2000. The politics of yesterday are no longer permissible.

By contrast, Senator John McCain is widely respected by voters of all political persuasions. His strict anti-corruption record inspires confidence of an electorate that has been failed by elected officials and their lobbyist friends far too often. McCain's refusal to sign the Americans for Tax Reform anti-tax pledge is a positive, especially among the two-thirds of registered Republicans not aligned with the hyper-evangelical and anti-tax wing of the Grand Old Party.

McCain's appeal to left of center voters, and pols like Senator Joe Lieberman, is about more than straight talk. They correctly view McCain's immigration policy as humanitarian and tough, just as it should be. Voters have taken immigration of the table as a driving issue. Because very few among us want to tell another mother or father that the life of their child is worth less than the lives of our children - simply based on the zip code we were born in, or what side of the Rio Grande we spent most of our lives.

Democrats are facing a similar tug of war between the establishment Clinton campaign and upstart Barack Obama. The Republicans internecine wars pale by comparison to Democrats' three act Greek tragedy playing out in every campaign stop.

Former President Bill Clinton, along with close friends BET Founder Bob Johnson and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, inserted racial issues into the public dialogue after Senator Barack Obama bested Hillary Clinton in Iowa. The former president's bravado turned toxic in South Carolina. The national press corps seized on the coded racism, and the condescension. The more questions asked, the more the Clinton camp flubbed and stumbled.

Bill Clinton, when challenged by the man who truly has the opportunity to be the first Black president, reverted to his Arkansas roots. Gone was the affable good ol' boy. He was replaced by a cynical, middle aged, angry, entitled, white man with black friends willing to go the distance for their old friend, no matter the cost. Was it racism? Unlikely. Vanity? Perhaps. After all, Bill Clinton is adjusting to Obama - and his starring role as the Alpha Male of 2008.

Hillary, who consistently reinvents her role as Victim in Chief, was mortally wounded by the former president's behavior in South Carolina. Obama earned eighty percent of the black vote. Clinton received just nineteen percent. The "Bill" effect extended to campaign coffers. In January, Obama's $32 million dwarfed the $13 million raised by the Clinton camp.

After Super Tuesday, Clinton revealed she loaned her campaign $5 million to keep ads on the air. An internet fundraising boomlet began - she raised a respectable $10 million. However, Obama is holding par - raising millions but from three times as many donors.

Obama has also raised a substantive question regarding Hillary's self-funding band-aid: where did the $5 million come from? Was it a pass-thru from a Friend of Bill? Obama's call for her to release her tax returns will ignite suspicions among anti-corruption voters. It will drown out her calls of sexism.

Obama is masterful, drawing the former president into a game he misses. Give Hillary credit for being co-president and remind voters of the 22nd Amendment. Remind Generation X voters and millennials that every general election, since they were old enough to vote, has featured a Bush or a Clinton.

Despite his considerable political acumen, Barack Obama remains Mr. Positivity. There are no photographs of him angry. No undisciplined moments to regret. His "Yes We Can" mantra is like a grass fire. He is bringing sexy back to the political game, zero sum or not.

Corruption, sex scandals, ear marks, war, terror, and non-stop political infighting have exhausted the patience of voters. They want answers, not hypocrisy or double speak. John McCain has earned his reputation as a straight talker. Obama is all about change we can believe in - and voters do. Hillary Clinton is hoping women will take her across the finish line.

Her campaign, more than either of her chief rivals, is about frigidity and fragility. She succeeded in convincing us that she is the victim. If she cannot handle the off-handed comment by a reporter who was utilizing common phraseology, how will she handle Iran? Or a flare up with Al Qaeda? Is she so fragile, so thin-skinned that she will falter if the times get tough? If she can't handle Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Obama - and gets all misty when the New York chapter of the National Organization of Women call it the "ultimate betrayal" - how can voters be confident she is strong enough to bear the burden of the American Presidency?

The electorate is anxious for change and authenticity. Americans want what is best for the nation, not another election driven by consultants and staff and lobbyists. On that basis, the strongest candidates are McCain and Obama.

America is ready to discuss matters of war and peace. Yes we are.