I think it does matter. Campaigns run on money. No money equals little or no campaigning and little to no MSM air time. If you want to know how a candidate performs without spending money just take a look at Giuliani in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. May they all go broke!
It does matter, but it does not matter 100%.
Huckabee had almost no money before the MSM suddenly catapulted him to star status, and gave him hundreds of millions of dollars of free publicity.
McCain was dead broke for months, before the MSM suddenly catapulted him to star status, and gave him hundreds of millions of dollars of free publicity.
The MSM is very powerful. Look at what propaganda through mass media did for Hitler.... Propaganda works, at least in the short term.
Unfortunately, we have a corrupt government, a corrupt media cartel, and an apathetic and ignorant population.
At least this campaign the biggest promotion of liberty that this country has seen in more than a generation. We are doing some good work, we are waking up hundreds of thousands if not millions of people, but the fight for freedom is being waged against formidable opponents, at least for the moment they are formidable.
If we have a serious dollar / stock market collapse, maybe the slumbering population will start waking up a little more quickly. I at least hope so.