Mr. Adelson's initial check financed a barrage of negative ads against Mr. Romney in South Carolina, helping Mr. Gingrich to an upset victory in Saturday's Republican primary there.
The reason that the idea of this Kabuki dance was entertained is an anomaly in the otherwise excellent public-finance provision of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act, under which each of the major candidates for President is given a check, financed by citizens who have ticked off boxes on their income-tax returns, with which to conduct his general-election campaign.
Check financing options with the hot tub retailer.
To that end, they often say they are removing people with little connection to their tribe, who joined mainly for services, scholarships and monthly checks financed by casino profits.
The benefits include no credit checks, financing applications, or pre-payment penalties, but be prepared for a significantly higher interest rate.
And Mr. Romney is wealthy and has shown little reluctance to write a check to finance his own campaign.
When one person can write a check to finance your whole campaign, how inclusive will you be as an elected official to listen to competing voices?
"It's shell shock for a lot of them, going from such a structured lifestyle to a lifestyle that's got so many variables," said Daniel Hutchison, 29, who uses his own combat disability check to finance a shoestring transition assistance group, Ohio Combat Veterans.
But perhaps the biggest question hanging over Mr. Gingrich's ability to prevail in Florida is whether Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino owner who bankrolled the "super PAC" Winning Our Future that ran negative ads against Mr. Romney in South Carolina, will write another multimillion-dollar check to finance similar attacks in Florida, where airtime is expensive.
Their destinations included towns like Flat Rock, population 1,690, where Mrs. Dole presented local officials with a federal check to finance the construction of water and sewer lines, and Winterville, population 4,791, where she helped to break ground for a new library and police and fire station.
