“As long as you’ve got enough money for gas, you can stay in the race,” says one veteran Iowa Republican operative of the sprawling 2016 presidential field. “It’s going to take a long time for this to play out.”

Yes, there are tons of stories in the press about this or that candidate raising zillions of dollars. But the truth is, a lot of Republican hopefuls — an unprecedented number — will have the wherewithal to run at least bare-bones campaigns for many months to come. And some of them could help shape the race and its top issues, even if they never climb into the top tier.