Posted on 04/22/2008 12:35:06 AM PDT by The_Republican
John McCain is abandoning any hope of catching the Democrats in fundraising.
Based on new financial disclosure reports released Sunday, and interviews with his finance team, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee will instead accept taxpayer money to finance his general election and share other costs with the Republican National Committee.
The strategy will allow McCain to stretch his campaign dollars by splitting the cost of television advertising and other campaign activity with the RNC.
But the decision also puts the Arizona senator at risk of being badly outspent – even with RNC help – by a Democratic nominee who will be allowed to spend as much as he or she can raise on the November race.
McCain has raised a total of $72 million for his presidential bid, including $15 million in March. He ended last month with about $11.5 million in cash.
In contrast, Democrat Barack Obama has raised more than $236 million for his campaign. He raised nearly $43 million in March and ended the month with $51 million in cash and no debts.
Obama’s chief rival, Hillary Clinton, has collected about $195 million for her candidacy. She raised about $21 million last month and reported having $32 million in cash, although about half of that money must be reserved for the general election and she is carrying about $10 million in debts.
The Illinois Democrat’s fundraising dominance has been on full display as he and Clinton fight hard toward Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary. He has more offices in the Keystone State than Clinton and has been outspending her on television. In March alone, Obama reported spending $31 million compared to the New York senator’s $22.4 million.
McCain’s decision to bow out of the campaign money race upends the conventional thinking at the start of the 2008 season. At that time, most political players – including McCain – expected any serious candidate to forgo participating in the taxpayer financed system because of the spending limits imposed by it.
It also could also have a negative rippling effect inside the Republican Party.
In the past two cycles, the national headquarters increasingly has been forced to come to the rescue of House and Senate candidates who were badly outspent by the Democrats.
Today, the congressional Democrats’ financial advantages have grown substantially while their Republican counterparts’ situation is increasingly dire.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reported Sunday having $38 million in the bank compared to the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s $17 million. More striking, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had $44 million in cash as of March 31, the end of the first quarter, while the National Republican Congressional Committee had just $7 million.
With the RNC focused now almost exclusively on protecting the party’s nominee, House and Senate candidates who don’t happen to be competing in presidential battleground states may be on their own.
It’s clear McCain’s team did not come to its recent decision easily. After sewing up the nomination in February, the senator recruited top notch fundraising talent, including the stars from the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign.
The newcomers faced the daunting task of creating a massive fundraising operation from scratch. Still, cash had begun to flow and March was one of McCain’s best fundraising months.
But advisers increasingly worried the senator simply didn’t have enough time to build the war chest he would need to compete with either Obama or Clinton. Unlike the Democrats who have had success in raising money effortlessly on the Internet, McCain was facing a more traditional fundraising scheme that requires repeated candidate appearances to draw big donors.
On March 31, McCain officially ceded the fundraising title. According to the new reports, the McCain campaign on that day refunded more than $3.2 million in individual donations that were earmarked for the general election campaign.
The Arizona senator also transferred about $621,000 to a newly formed account that will cover the legal and accounting costs of complying with a taxpayer funded presidential financing program.
Under the program, McCain will be eligible to receive $84.1 million from the national treasury to run his campaign between his official nomination at the September Republican convention in Minnesota and Election Day.
Between now and then, McCain needs only to raise enough money to travel and keep his profile high enough not to be forgotten while the Democrats continue to battle one another. If a Democratic nominee emerges with enough time to launch an attack against McCain, a handful of well financed, Republican-friendly outside groups stand ready to quickly come to his aid.
McCain also can spend his summer headlining joint events to help raise money for the RNC, which can allocate millions to boosting his candidacy. The RNC on Sunday reported having $31 million in cash, compared to just $5 million in the Democratic National Committee’s account.
By directing donations to the RNC, money also can be raised in bigger chunks. The maximum donation to the RNC is $28,500; the biggest allowable donation to the McCain campaign for the general election would have been $2,300.
The joint campaign expenditures is a strategy that was expanded and perfected by President Bush in 2004.
The national parties already are permitted to spend about $19 million to support their nominee on “coordinated” campaign activities, which can range from advertising to voter turnout operations.
Four years ago, the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign and the RNC also introduced a new form of advertising that promoted both the party and the ticket -- and they evenly split the costs. The RNC spent $46 million on those ads in 2004, money that in previous cycles would have been deducted from the party nominee‘s campaign account.
Democrats objected to the hybrid ads. But the Federal Election Commission, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, lacked the votes to determine that they broke campaign finance rules, thus paving the way for their use in this year’s cycle.
But the Republicans have got to get their heads out of their rumps. RNC voter surveys that include guilt donation demands? Hello - you want my money, you start fighting for my desires, and you actually put out a national message. Otherwise, I might as well simply toss the money out the window. It sure goes to better use on this forum than it'll ever do with the RNC.
“In contrast, Democrat Barack Obama has raised more than $236 million for his campaign. He raised nearly $43 million in March and ended the month with $51 million in cash and no debts.”
It just continues to astound me that this empty suit has actually raised nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in contributions (and the tap is still flowing, to boot!). Especially since so much of his money supposedly comes from “small online donors.”
Good decision I think. The small money is not going to come. So its time for RNC to got to 28K per donation guys and get it done.
It might be a good decision, but I am not sure how it will affect the house and senate seats that may need the money even more. Typically Presidential candidates can raise money on their own...at least easier.
George Soros accounts donating online with bots through proxies.
John (die hard) McClain and his distain for 'so called' conservatives will kill all fundraising for the GOP. You can't bite the hand that feeds you and expect another handout...
McCain has spent a lifetime spending other peoples money - he will never realize that the well ran dry when he dissed conservatives in favor of those cash happy independents and liberals who are so enthused to send him campaign contributions /s.
So either way he gets my money. We'll need to change this in the future.
Not one dime. I want to see who's the veep on the ticket. Better be someone I'd want running the country.
Not one red cent until then and no guarantee if I don't like the veep.
He is finding out that the mushy spineless middle he is courting just doesn’t pay.
Oh please, as much as everyone jumps around and whines around here, John McCain isn't killing the GOP's fundraising, the GOP is killing the GOP's fundraising. They've been telling conservatives for years to suck it up and shut up about a number of social and fiscal issues, hammering down most conservatives on a national level, and quashing those on the local level so as to 'protect' their precious cargo of Rinos.
John McCain isn't the problem, he's the culmination of years long effort by the GOP to make the party less conservative in an 'outreach' to the rest of America, chasing a fictional creation of the modern media commentators that are eager to tell America what they want, and ignore every single poll and vote that blatantly says what they do want: Secure borders, an end to the endless handouts, control over the national budget, a smaller government, less federal intrusion into their daily lives.
As I've said, time and time again, you gotta go a long distance to make John McCain look good; compared to the national party, he does look good. He's soft on borders, but we've had national releases wanting more open borders. He's stomped on our free speech, but we had the national committee saying it was just a good first step. He's been on the wrong side of judge selection while the national party has demanded that we moderate our viewpoints and work with the opposition.
So, no, John McCain isn't the enemy - he's just a foot soldier in a much larger battle, that of a completely detached national leadership that pushes pretty faces and empty track records forward, while spending like drunken sailors on a 3 hour shore leave ticket, who are just tickled pink in giving beanies to just about any group they can possibly fit into a fundraiser dinner.
I'll start contributing to the national party once more when they slash their own budgets, end insane benefits packages, and treat it like a real party instead of a gathering of friends who live off the bilked donations of the people. They don't treat the party seriously, so why should I treat them seriously?
Yup ... you said it. Anything from the RNC I get in the mail looking for money gets “filed” immediately. I've given them enough in the past and look what we got ... GW a limp wrist-ed liberal in his last term and a bunch of spend happy lib repubs.
To all those Republican “leaders” - McCain, Martinez, Graham, Mehlman, etc., who told us to shut up on amnesty and a lot of other issues, enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Looks like we nobodies have the final word.
It will be a long winter for the Republican party. Let’s hope by 2012 these clowns are long gone and true conservative leadership has replaced them to clean up the mess the Democrats will create in the next few years.
or it could be lots of people fronting george soro's cash
Republican Party’s presumptive nominee
I have seen this said before too. SO you are saying theres still a chance! lol. SOmeone mentioned the dems might just nominate mccain, I hope that is true.
I am not pinning my hopes on a VP, W left us out to dry by not replacing Chaney. I hope Mccain chooses another rino, arlene suspector or olympiad snowjob.
But still.... Some says that McCain would be bush’s 3rd term and considering what all the polls says about Bush.....
With all that money the dems are digging up and spending, I think it would be a kick if McCain still won in November. It would mean no matter how much money, how many slanted polls the dems can cough up, this country still doesn’t want them.
I’ve heard rumblings about if you don’t vote for Oboma, you are a racist. Geez! Now THAT is something to campaign on.
Maybe I’ve never paid as much attention in past election seasons but I can’t remember and odder one than this one.
The Clintons spent years feathering her run for the White House. Every move she’s made was designed for this moment including the creation of various smear organizations like Media Matters and Moveon and they’ve all dumped her... even her best of pals dumped her for an empty suited Marxist American-hating black man.... all strikes me funny. Now she needs at least 10% points tomorrow to even hope to stay in the race.
Right now, money is flowing for who ever becomes the Democrats nominee. Not only in campaign contributions, they are busy gathering millions upon millions for smear campaigns against McCain.
The stack against McCain is being stacked as you read this. Even a BUNCH of people from his own party. So.....
So what if through all that, McCain still wins. I don’t think McCain is that good or bad but I’m still not convinced that anything the Dems can muster even with all the hundreds of millions of dollars, would make the liberal left wing more acceptable.
I think between now and November, it can only get more amusing.
you know I hadnt thought of that, might be good to see all the money obama/soros/hillary wasted. but then that means mccain is president so its a toss up.
I’ve been thinking along those lines myself. I certainly wouldn’t put it past Soros (or Obama) to pull a scheme like that.
that’s why I call him the most dangerous man in the world.
We told the RNC that we would not support candidates who were not conseratives. I guess they didn’t believe us.
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