Posted on 07/23/2012 1:25:19 PM PDT by Kaslin
At first blush, associating Barack Obama with deficits of any sort seems like a complete non-story. After all, this is the president who has presided over four consecutive trillion-plus dollar deficits after pledging to slice that number in half by the end of this term. He's also the man whose unanimously rejected FY 2013 budget would literally never balance, generating additional deficits as far as the eye can see. Nevertheless, seeing red ink splattered on Obama's re-election campaign's balance sheet still feels strange. This group once boasted that it would raise a billion dollars for this cycle -- and despite Obama's recent implications to the contrary, the facts show that his operation widely outspent his opponent's in the last election. So what to make of this?
President Obama outspent Mitt Romney 2 to 1 in June even as Mr. Romney far outraised him, according to campaign reports filed on Friday with the Federal Election Commission, leaving Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party with significantly less cash on hand than Mr. Romney and the Republicans as polls show a head-to-head race. Mr. Obama and the Democratic National Committee spent $70.8 million in June, including about $38 million on television advertising, as the president’s campaign sought to batter Mr. Romney over his ties to Bain Capital, the private equity firm. Mr. Romney and the Republican National Committee spent $38.8 million, including about $11 million on television advertising — more than double what Mr. Romney’s campaign spent in May but far less than Mr. Obama.
In terms of direct contributions, the Obama campaign "reported more than $46 million in June and total spending of $58 million," a $12 million gap. Still, as Kevin reported over the weekend, Obama's claim of being victimized by overwhelming Republican money isn't exactly accurate. The president continues to crush Romney in spending, overall and in swing states. Much of this advantage can be attributed to campaign laws, which do not permit Romney to spend his recent cash spike until after he officially becomes the Republican nominee in late August. With the law and the calendar on his side for the moment, Obama has poured roughly $100 million into (overwhelmingly negative) ads, hoping to define his opponent in voters' minds. Obama donors may be wondering about their return on investment. National Journal notices that polling trends suggest that Obama hasn't managed to seize the moment:
The first round of polls is out after President Obama’s Bain attacks against Mitt Romney and the results aren’t good news for the White House. By themselves, the national toplines are discouraging enough: Romney holds a (statistically-insignificant) 47 to 46 percent lead in the new New York Times/CBS poll, and the president is stuck at 47 percent in recent polls by Fox News and NPR. But beneath the head-to-head numbers, the results foreshadow tough times ahead for Obama. Voters appear to be processing the worsening economic news belatedly, and their pessimism shows. In the CBS/NYT poll, Obama’s job approval dropped to 44 percent, with only 39 percent approving of his economic performance -- down five points from April. For the first time since January, more voters now think the economy is getting worse. Nearly two-thirds of voters now place some blame on the president for the weak economic conditions, with 34 percent giving him “significant” responsibility, and an outright 52 percent majority of independents believe Obama will “never improve” the economy. These aren’t numbers that victories are made of.
Another red flag for Team Obama is the president's crumbling favorability ratings, a troubling departure from his previous strength:
Note well that Obama is underwater on the favorability question, generally his strong suit, by double digits. More Americans are developing a poor overall perception of Obama the man, independent from their misgivings about his leadership...Obama's favorability with independents is -- wait for it -- 28/52 (!), with Romney actually above water at 32/31.
The question the media should be asking is not how much Obama's Bain attacks are hurting Romney; it's whether Obama's Bain attacks are hurting Obama. I'll leave you with this related nugget, reported by the Weekly Standard over the weekend. Remember The One's big May re-elect kickoff event in Columbus? His campaign spent nearly $93,000 to rent a large arena -- and ended up with thousands of empty seats:
This turnout fell well short of Chicago's expectations:
"The Obama campaign expects overflow crowds ... as part of carefully orchestrated optics. Aides want to portray the president as still highly popular among young people and still able to energize large crowds."
Hyped expectations, disappointing results, huge expenditures and resulting deficits. Sound familiar?
Barry and the ‘RATS doing what they do best! Spending OPM!
Just emulating how his government runs.
You said it
Frankly, this is a bad comparison. A campaign isn’t like a business or a government — it OUGHT to operate at a deficit in the last few months before the election.
If I were running the campaign of a term-limited incumbent, I’d plan to run a deficit every month between now and November, spending down everything on hand, except maybe for a small amount set aside to cover expenses in any Florida-style recount.
If, when the election is settled, the Obama campaign fund has more than a pittance left in it, then it was mismanaged.
Romney could consider leaving a little more in the bank so that, if elected, he has seed money to begin working toward his re-election. Overall, though, he should also run a deficit over the next few months.
Hmmm, I don’t like either of these guys, so why am I giving them free advice.....
I do not take solace in any of this financial blather.
Somewhere in September, Obama will certainly have TONS of cash to pour into his advertising.
I doubt that there will be any meaningful difference in cash between the two campaigns.
Also, there IS going to be some kind of bounce for the O after the Democrat convention.
Defeating him will require a wise choice for VP, a smart strategy to get to 270 EVs, a solid ground game to GOTV, a clear message, and a pile of cash to get that message across.
We must do what is best for America now.
If the campaign can’t raise the money it wants to spend it will simply borrow. What government regulated bank is going to turn down the president’s reelection committee? Any bank CEO knows if his bank turns down a request from Obama’s campaign for money, the bank will be severely punished by the government if the President wins reelection. On the flip side if the bank loans the money and Obama isn’t reelected Romney won’t punish.
Why wouldn’t the campaign roll up $100 to $200 million in debt it has no way of repaying? What is the downside? If the campaign defaults, and Obama is President, who will even make an attempt to collect? If he loses, there will be no assets to collect and Obama won’t be personally liable. Plus from the progressive perspective stiffing the banks would only be just.
Expect Obama to spend as much as he wants and expect his campaign to leave several major banks holding uncollectible loans after election day.
I calculated it, he borrowed 20 cents on every dollar he spent.
Not as bad as the actualy federal government spending - they’re borrowing 40 cents on every dollar spent.
I respectfully disagree, Obama is not remotely going to find the cash he got last time.... He’s been written off, not only by swing voters but big donors. His attacks on Bane and Wall Street and his down right confrontational policies toward capitalism have and will continue to cost him. Don’t think every Democrat is a raging communist.
Obama is going to run deficits this entire campaign, his “War Chest” will slowly dwindle and his numbers will continue to tank.
Just look at this Bane thing, its rediculous.. its having ZERO impact, well zero positive impact for him anyway. Here’s the dirty little secret... The electorate has already made up their mind, Obama’s gone, its been pretty apparent since January that Obama cannot get above low 40s in a national election, and that’s if he runs a perfect campaign, and so far, his campaign is a shambles.
He’s not had 1, not 1 positive or offensive day since it became apparent Romney would indeed be the nominee, even his win at the Supreme Court on ObamaCare didn’t allow him to take a positive and turn the conversation.
This election is nothing more than a referendum on Obama, and its one he’s going to fail miserably. Why? Because he’s been a failure at every measurable level, and his stupid attacks on his opponent are tin eared, many of them cause even more people to reject him than help him. He’s preaching to the choir with his attempted attacks, nothing more.
Obama can’t paing Romney as more extreme than him, and in polling Obama is viewed as extreme by a 2 to 1 margin over Romney.. so his attempts to paing Romney as unacceptable are just wasted breath, and since he can’t run on his record, he just keeps tossing out hot air that doesn’t matter.
The electorate has made up its minds and did so long ago, nothing is going to change that. His attacks are basically falling on deaf ears.. he holds no weight, he’s a national joke, and a political neophyte.
I don’t remember where I heard this, or if I read it somewhere, but Obama spent nothing getting the re-up nomination, where Romney had to spend gobs to wrap up his nomination. Obama has been spending his money that he didn’t have to spend on getting the nod, where Romney can’t do that yet. This is why Oblablah is spending $100,000,000 and Romney isn’t yet.
But it IS telling that all the spending advantage Oblame-oh has currently, is NOT influencing anyone. Wait until Romney is unleashed, or his cash. That will change some polling data, I’m thinking.
I’m shocked!
You just know that after bamie loses the election that many, many people are going to go unpaid. Anyone that says berry sotoero owes them money will be deemed racist.
Barry runs his campaign the same way he runs the federal government. This is the mindset you get from a President who has never in his lifetime had to worry about balancing a company’s books.
Zer0 is all about deficit spending.
And that was just for Michelle’s horse blankets, oats and reshoeing.
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