There is a special kind of irony in watching South Carolina's Senate race unfold.

Less than a month after one of the most expensive and aggressive Republican intraparty fights this state has ever seen, Darline Graham's campaign is now asking supporters to chip in five bucks because apparently the primary and runoff emptied their bank accounts.

In repeated emails this month, Graham's campaign has told supporters that two elections in two weeks drained its resources and left the campaign "running on fumes". So the message seems to be the Republican nomination has been secured (bought) but the money has to be rebuilt for November and the clock is ticking.

This week Graham even took the appeal to Fox News.

After telling Sean Hannity that Democrats were pouring money into South Carolina, she made the ask: "So, I need help.." before directing TV viewers to her website and requesting small dollar donations.

The timing makes this whole thing difficult not to notice.

For weeks, an extraordinary amount of political money and energy was devoted not to defeating Democrat Annie Andrews, but to defeating conservative and populist Republicans.

Outside organizations spent at least $5 million supporting Graham during the special primary and runoff while nearly $5 million was also spent opposing Ralph Norman. Norman, by comparison, only benefited from about $517,000 total in outside support.

That stark contrast is hard to miss.

South Carolina Republicans just came through a compressed primary process in which millions of dollars were spent promoting one Republican and attacking another Republican.

Now the primary is over.

The Democrat is still standing.

And the Republican nominee is asking for five dollars because her campaign blew it all on fighting their own.

Meanwhile, Andrews entered this phase from a very different financial position. Her most recent complete FEC report showed roughly $10.8 million raised through June 30th and about $4.1 million in cash on hand. A Democratic-aligned group has since announced another $2.5 million advertising campaign supporting her effort against Graham.

So there's a strategic question worth asking here.

What exactly was accomplished by pouring so much political capital into destroying fellow Republicans during a frantic August primary if the nominee emerges from that fight immediately warning supporters that she lacks the resources to compete in November?

The Graham Machine took yet another title-belt from a Republican nomination.

Whether the road taken to get there left the party stronger for the general election is something to ponder.

There is something almost darkly humorous about that sequence.

Millions were available when the target was another Republican.

Now that the opponent is a Democrat, the hat is being passed around for five-dollar bills.

Perhaps that is simply the cost of winning a difficult primary where the candidate is tough-sell.

Or perhaps South Carolina is getting an early look at the bill for the political war that was waged before the general election even started.