Excerpted from Newsweek, “Was Obama Right to Opt Out of Public Financing?” Andrew Romano, September 09, 2008
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On Sept. 16, Obama will start his evening at a 46,000 square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills, then proceed to the posh Beverly Wilshire hotel. Needless to say, Obama won’t be prospecting for votes … He’ll be mining for money.
When Obama opted out of public financing- – nlike McCain, who gladly accepted an $84.1 million check from the American taxpayers — he predicted that his efficient Web-based small-donor money machine would rake in “around or above $300 million”
The real surprise of this year’s cash chase is that it’s much more competitive than anyone expected.
Take July, for example. While Obama netted a massive $51 million–again clobbering McCain, who racked up $27 million.
The important statistic to look at is the combined amount of cash-on-hand for each candidate and his party. The totals were nearly identical: the Republicans finished the month with $96 million in the bank ($75 million for the RNC, $21 million for McCain) versus $94.3 million for the Democrats ($25.8 million for the DNC, $65.8 million for Obama). In other words, Obama & McCain-were tied.
August didn’t look any rosier for Obama. The New York Times reported that “the campaign is struggling to meet ambitious fund-raising goals it set for the campaign and the party,” collecting “in June and July far less from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s donors than originally projected” and pushing donors to give more with letters characterizing their recent efforts as “extremely anemic.”
“After a year of telling donors not to contribute to 527 groups, of encouraging strategists not to form them and of suggesting that outside messaging efforts would not be welcome in Obama’s Democratic Party, Obama’s strategists” are now “hoping that Democratic allies”–i.e., 527 groups–“will come to Obama’s aid.”
In terms of cold, hard cash … Obama started September with around $90-$100 million in the bank. The McCain campaign … finished the month with more than $100 million on-hand money that it has now turned over to the RNC. Combined with McCain’s fresh infusion of $84 million in public funds and the $100 million RNC fundraisers expect to raise in September and October, that would leave the GOP with about $300 million at its disposal.
To keep up, Obama and Democrats have to rake in about $100 million a month from now until November 4. That’s $25 million more than their best combined monthly total to date.
In truth, the problem isn’t that Obama doesn’t have enough dinero. He has–and will continue to have–tons, most of which he can invest at his own discretion (unlike McCain, who’s only allowed to direct a small portion of the RNC’s disbursements). Given that Obama is bent on expanding the map — and using its own resources to do it — that’s an important distinction.
The problem is that — compared to his publicly-financed Republican rival — Obama may not have enough money to justify the costs of opting out. While McCain spends the two-month sprint to the finish wooing voters in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania without stopping to replenish his coffers, Obama will have to work harder than ever to keep the cash flow coming. That means more fundraisers … in Beverly Hills or in New Jersey with Bon Jovi … and less time on the trail.
No doubt that … Obama would rather be in Ohio than Beverly Hills, listening to a working mom talk about her economic struggles instead of listening to Barbara Streisand sing. No doubt his political strategists — keenly aware of how the rest of American will interpret Streisand + mansions + Hollywood — would agree. But it isn’t quite working out that way.
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Full article:
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/09/09/was-obama-right-to-opt-out-of-public-financing.aspx
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