'08 Campaigns Flooded With Cash, Save GOP Frontrunner

This was supposed to be the election year of big bucks. But John McCain, who has taken firm hold of frontrunner status, began 2008 with his campaign $1.6 million in the red, according to reports filed Thursday at the Federal Election Commission.

On New Year's Day, with crucial contests looming in Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, South Carolina and Florida, McCain had just $2.9 million in the bank, and debts of $4.5 million.

McCain's success while operating on a shoestring is testament to the fact that one win -- New Hampshire in his case -- can trump cash. That victory was used to leverage as much free media as possible, sparing the Arizona senator from having to buy expensive television time.

McCain is now decisively ahead of candidates who started 2008 with superior financial resources.

Rudy Giuliani, whose bid collapsed in Florida, began the month with four times as much cash as McCain -- $12.8 million, his January 31 FEC report disclosed.

On the surface, Mitt Romney appeared to be in even worse shape than McCain with a paltry $2.4 million in the bank and a massive $35.5 million in debt.

But Romney's FEC report does not tell the whole story. The $35.5 million shortfall is actually money that Romney loaned his own campaign with little likelihood of ever getting paid back. The former CEO of Bain Capital, whose personal fortune is approximately $250 million, has taken on responsibility for financing the lion's share of his bid for the Republican nomination.

The key figure for Romney is not the campaign's bank account; it's the additional cash Romney is prepared to fork over. He and his aides are keeping that figure close to the vest.

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On the Democratic side, the two remaining competitors are luxuriating in wealth. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have each raised over $100 million in 2007.

Clinton reported that at the start of 2008, she had $37.9 million in the bank, and that she raised $27.3 million in the last three months of 2007. That brought her grand total to $104.6 million.

Obama, in turn, reported $18.8 million cash on hand, after raising $23.5 million in the last quarter of 2007, and an overall total of $101.4 million.

Both Clinton and Obama broke all records for Democratic fundraising during presidential primaries.

While Clinton began the year with more than twice the cash that Obama had, Obama's campaign sought to ally fears that he would be dramatically outspent by preemptively announcing that he raised over $32 million in January alone.

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See all of the latest fundraising results at HuffPost's Fundrace 2008.

Comments

[Gesellschaft]

For clarity: -
Total Donations, Q4
, $19.9M -- Ron Paul
, $9.1M -- Mitt Romney
, $6.8M -- John McCain
, $6.6M -- Mike Huckabee

[Gesellschaft]

UNSPIN okay, you've read the post, now read the data.. anything missing from the post??

Total Donations, Q4
$19.9M -- Ron Paul
$9.1M -- Mitt Romney
$6.8M -- John McCain
$6.6M -- Mike Huckabee

Hrm, scratches chin

[godlessclif]

"I remember LBJ's trouncing of Barry Goldwater, but I took no notice of the Civil Rights Act. Still, the word "race" must have been in the air in the uppermiddle-class section of New Rochelle, New York, where we lived, because one day I asked our housekeeper, Sophie, what the word meant. Sophie explained that race was a way to describe the color of your skin. She belonged to the Negro race because her skin was black. I belonged to the white race because my skin was white, I said I though race meant whoever runs faster wins, and Sophie matter-of-factly replied that black people and white people were in a race, and the white people were winning."...Edsall from "Chain Reaction"

Edsall learned about race from the house Negro. That explains a lot about his attitude.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqpNI4232qg&feature=related
Meet John Doe; D.B. Norton sees house Negros listening to John Does speech and sees a path to power. Near the end of the clip.

[TheSchul]

The cash on hand numbers you cited are fairly misleading because a lot of Hillary Clinton's large supporters have already donated to her general election fund, which cannot be tapped until after the convention. In making the comparison between Clinton and Obama, only primary cash matters.

According the TPM, Hillary Clinton ended 2007 with $18 million in primary cash on hand to Obama's $13 million in primary cash on hand. According to opensecrets.org, Hillary Clinton had $4.9 million in debt to Obama's 0.8 million in debt.

Please consider updating the article to clarify this important point.

[Chupacabras]

Chupacabras (See profile | I'm a fan of Chupacabras)
In the original "Hight of the Living Dead" (1968) McCain had a cameo appearance as one of the walking mummies.

He was, of course, much younger, but you can recognize him as the one with his arms stretched and both "thumbs up" as he attacks those poor middle class people trapped inside the (bank) foreclosed house.

He was eventually shot down by either Duane Jones (black dude), or Judith Ridley (good looking white dudette), I'm not sure. Irrelevant, as he WAS brought down anyway.

Sign of future times...

[NemoMIL]

Everybody who is sick of the media blackout of certain candidates send an email to the guy who wrote the article about it(edsall@­huffington­post.com).

Also, (you probably saw this coming) Ron Paul's 51st Wedding Anniversary is today. Check it out at www.RonPaul2008.com.

[nazirmo]

WASHINGTON (AP) — For all the millions the presidential campaigns have spent, it still comes down to this: Ask people what they think of Hillary Rodham Clinton and they say female and feminist. For Barack Obama, it's inexperience. Mitt Romney is known as a Mormon, John McCain for his military service.

And oh, yes, he's old.

Still, no one has seen their image improve more than McCain, the Arizona senator who has won the past two Republican primaries and become his party's front-runner. According to an Associated Press-Yahoo News survey released Friday, McCain is widely seen as experienced, strong, honest and decisive. He has even shown improvements from two groups he has struggled to win over: conservatives and white evangelical Christians.

[unclejim]

ronald reagan was a joke !
the govoner of the most freaked up state in the union and we made him president
if it wasn't for g.w. bush he'd be remembered by people (that don't rewrite him into history as some sort of god) as the worst president in history but we made the c-average (bought and paid for) draft dodging (awol actually)cocain addicted alcoholic , business destroyer , moron
president
and what did he do ?
spent ALL our dough (actually gave it away) to the oil industry and big pharm
and , oh yah , started a war
who will the republicans steal the next election for ?

[Chupacabras]

In the original "Hight of the Living Dead" (1968) McCain had a cameo appearance as one of the walking mummies.

He was, of course, much younger, but you can recognize him as the one with his arms stretched and both "thumbs up" as he attacks those por middle class people trapped inside the (bank) foreclosed house.

Sign of future times...

[Dandy12]

Being from FLA, I agree with MBFLA on most things (McCain especially). However, I find both of the Dems acceptable.

I'm happy that McCain's finances are on a shoe-string, and wish Romney's were too... Evidently, many Reps. aren't putting their money where their mouths are. It looks like they think their '08 choices suck (which they do)!!

Re Ron Paul, in some respects he's right... More right on Iraq, and foreign involvement than anything else. The gold standard, not really... It is interesting that silver coins were taken out of circulation after 1964. This coincided with the War on Poverty, and LBJ's surge in Viet Nam. Coincidence?

[MBFLA]

Anyone who votes for McCain is voting for more war. Unless you are living in a vacuum , you know that means more debt, more deaths, more terrorists created by OUR government, more worldwide scorn for the US, etc. Is this what we want?

Obama gives us the chance of an alternative. Read his positions if you think he is too vague. The man is very clear on his policy statements. He was Law Review at Harvard and has had more elected experience than Hillary. He is a true Progressive!

Ron Paul is anti-war. Great! Other than that he is a fruitcake. I have tried to like him but I just disagree with the vast majority of his platform. Sorry.

Obama is our best bet of those we have left from which to choose in my opinion.

[raptor]

If the Founding Fathers could have predicted what a cash race the presidency would have become, they would....

[GeoLee]

I wonder how many people will ose their jobs while Governor Romney pursues the presidency and has to get his capital from his own accumulation of wealth.

[JumboBurrito]

Earth to Paul supporters. Your libertarian crank candidate does not have a snowball's chance in hell of getting either the GOP nomination or winning the general election.

[JJinWI]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrJKB22PITs

This is why.

No matter how many endorsements McCain claims,
that's all he has to prop him up. He refuses to answer straight forward questions at every debate by deflecting the question with "my good friend Phil Graham endorses me"... blah blah blah.

Straight talk, in a warped mind.

Even Coulter said she would vote for Clinton
if McCain becomes the GOP candidate. That has
to tell you something about how weak of a conservative he is.

A hawk with no wings. The best thing for John McCain to do now is seek therapy. Too bad the VA cant help him out.