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June 21, 2008

Obama's Fundraising Numbers Slip in May

Rick Moran
It could be everyone is taking a  breather now that the campaign for the nomination is over. Or it could be they didn't try very hard to raise money.

Or it could be a sign of "giving fatigue" on the part of Obama's 1.5 million strong email list. Any way you look at it though, Obama raised substantially less money in May than he has in other recent months:

Barack Obama raised $22 million in May for his presidential campaign, his weakest fundraising month this year, and ended the month with $43 million cash on hand, while former rival Hillary Rodham Clinton sank deeper in debt.

Obama, who has been the fundraising leader throughout the presidential contest, entered June on virtually the same financial footing as Republican rival John McCain _ a level of parity that would have been unimaginable just a few months ago.

Details of the candidates' May fundraising, filed Friday in reports to the Federal Election Commission, came a day after Obama announced he would become the first major party candidate to forgo public financing in the general election. McCain has said he will accept the public funds, which will limit him to spending about $85 million from September until Election Day in November.

McCain raised $21 million in May and ended the month with $31.6 million in the bank. Of Obama's cash on hand, $10 million is available only for the general election, leaving him with about $33 million to use between now and the party conventions in late summer. Obama reported debts of $304,000; McCain had debts of $1.3 million.


As you can see, both candidates are surprisingly even in the amount of money on hand. But this is a mirage because McCain can use his $31 million for ads and expenses between now and the convention while Obama has only $10 million to spend. This will help McCain as he seeks to define Obama as an elitist candidate of the far left.

On top of McCain's efforts, the Republican National Committee outraised Howard Dean's DNC by a 4 to 1 margin. With Obama sucking up hundreds of millions in donations that may have gone to Democratic candidates on the down ticket, it appears that the RNC will be able to assist Republican candidates a lot more than the DNC will be able to help Democrats.

Ed Lasky adds:

The RNC will more than make up for the difference between Obama and McCain at this point.  I wonder if opting out of public financing was maybe not the best idea for Senator Obama?  Just think, if he had taken the public cash, he could have spent the next few months directing his contributors to help finance House and Senate races as well as the barely solvent DNC.  Rather than do that, he's taking as much money for himself as possible. 



At this point in the race, the very best that could be said about McCain is that he is not getting blown out by Obama and the Democrats and is surprisingly holding his own in the polls and the money race. Given the other factors in play, that's a very good place to be right now.


Posted at 09:42 AM | Email | | | Share Share
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