Noted online Republican activist Patrick Ruffini has a terrific post up today about the need for the Republican Party to change its fundraising model.  (h/t Jonathan Martin):

The Bush campaign did not invent the idea of bundling, but by marketing it better (Pioneers) and introducing public rewards and incentives, they tapped into a level of giving that had not been seen before in Presidential politics. This is what happens when the best minds in politics think outside the box and refuse to be bound by old conventional thinking.

. . .

The campaigns of John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Rudy Giuliani all went into 2008 with the same goal in mind: capture as much of the Bush Ranger & Pioneer establishment as possible and raise $100 million in 2007. The spirit of 1999 lived on. Unfortunately for the campaigns, it was more like the spirit of the 1999-era stock bubble. Virtually nobody questioned the assumption that the high dollar fundraising boom would go on forever, considering the storm clouds of a closely divided field with no heir apparent (people like to invest in a sure thing) and a demoralized base.