Clinton Camp Spends $33 Million On Consultants

Politico:

Hillary Rodham Clinton started the year flush with cash, but by the beginning of this month, she'd blazed through most of it -- spending $11 million on ads, $3.8 million on messaging guru Mark Penn and $1,300 at Dunkin' Donuts, just to name a few expenditures -- leaving her campaign woefully unprepared for an extended battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

About $15 million -- or more than half of the New York senator's January spending -- went to a cadre of high-priced consultants. Though much of the cash went through the campaign media buyer for ad time, the considerable payments to outside consultants mark an increase in a pattern that has irked campaign insiders. From the beginning of the race through the end of last month, Clinton paid the consultants $33 million -- nearly one-third of the $105 million spent by the campaign.

Read the whole story: Politico

Comments

[Doofus]

03:00 PM on 02/22/2008

It is most likely the case that most (much?) of the aforementioned $33M is just 'passing through' the consultants' wallets, to be payment for 'media buys' though out the land. Yes, the consultants are making bundles, but the real money is going to Big Media. Why else would we get such an elaborate spectacle every four years? It's a feeding frenzy!

[jkbowman]

12:37 PM on 02/22/2008

New show: "The Fleecing of American Voters"

[TerryFL]

11:34 PM on 02/21/2008

.

She paid Howard Wolfson $267,000 last month. What a waste of good money. The guy looks like psychotic killer.

.

[MyNameIsJames]

11:34 AM on 02/22/2008

This disclosure is a very important one. Not just because it is about the HRC campaign, but because the Democratic Consulting class has been raping the Democratic party FOR YEARS even though Democrats have been losing State houses, Governorships, US House and Senate seats and Presidential contests for the better part of the last 30 years.

This corrupt class of valueless cynical operators needs to be exposed and marginalized in the Democratic party.

[illinoisan]

10:22 PM on 02/21/2008

The worst thing a candidate can do is to loan money to their campaign. The second worst thing is for the campaign to borrow money from an outside source. After such a loan, subsequent contributors are essentially helping the campaign pay down the loan. That's not a good motivator for prospective donors.

This campaign gives us every reason to fear that consultants, lobbyists and cronies would cover the body politic like maggots if Clinton somehow managed to get in.

[Doofus]

01:15 PM on 02/23/2008

How much better (for McCain) to borrow campaign funds from a bank, collateral being public funds he *might* get from US if he chooses to go that way, speaking of political 'maggots'.

[illinoisan]

10:09 PM on 02/21/2008

$1,300.00 at Dunkin Donuts explains a lot.

[MRb1000]

12:41 AM on 02/22/2008

Hey she gave those donuts to the police. LOL

[loki]

09:22 PM on 02/21/2008

And this is the kind of person we want in the white house? Another Bush?? Spending Millions on Consultants when they should just be doing their job??? Im sure if Hillary has a Halliburton, then they too will get millions or billions in no bid consultation contracts if this is any indication. We dont need someone who takes care of his, or her, self and friends over and above the country as a whole. Because that will only drive our country further into the Hole that Reagan started , and every president since then has helped dig deeper. Which W has brought in heavy equipment to expedite the digging process.

Nope, between her flippy floppy and her management of this campaign, and she is the final word, so you cant blame anyone but her, she is positively not the person to try to turn this country around and make it a place that Americans can be proud of again, and the world doesnt flat out hate.

I have no idea if Obama is that person either, in fact, I have great doubts he is, but so far, he is not as apparently incompetent or greed driven as Hillary. She really is a Bush in dumborat clothing.

[incontempt]

08:48 PM on 02/21/2008

WOW...like the $80,000 toilet seat..but are there more of them?

[moda31]

07:51 PM on 02/21/2008

they've done a shit job, she should get a refund.

[mrJJ]

07:45 PM on 02/21/2008

From the beginning of the race through the end of last month, Clinton paid the consultants $33 million -- nearly one-third of the $105 million spent by the campaign.

Thats an insane amount of money to waste! 1/3 of her entire campaign funding?

[savertime]

07:41 PM on 02/21/2008

She's not getting her moneys worth in campaign advice. Team of bloodsuckers is right.

I could've planned a better campaign (using common sense.)

[illinoisan]

10:12 PM on 02/21/2008

People laughed at me a year ago when I suggested that common sense dictated that Obama was the inevitable nominee and that Clinton would be smart not to waste the money and energy trying to deny it.

[savertime]

07:38 PM on 02/21/2008

She's not getting her moneys worth in campaign advice. Team of bloodsuckers is right.

I could've planned a better campaign (using common sense.)

[Doofus]

06:56 PM on 02/21/2008

Hey, it's not exactly *her* money is it? Mostly it's funding from Big Contributors, which is no doubt how she came to believe this would work out in her favor in the first place. That would be about $80M ago, but if you put together a $20M political war chest, you might just as well run for President. No doubt Mark Penn & friends would agree, whole heartedly.

[loki]

09:47 PM on 02/21/2008

thats the exact point. She wont invest her money, its all OPM. So this is from people who are supporting her with large amounts of cash. Corporate people! The ones she is most loyal to, and she is spending their money like its nothing. What do you think once she gets her hands on OUR money????

[Doofus]

12:22 AM on 02/22/2008

The process we use to elect presidents consumes huge amounts of cash, and a lot of folks get wealthier from it, consultants & media companies both. I don't suppose it's a candidates job to watch closely how $$$ are spent. But clearly it works 'better' if there are good results (0 for ten is NOT good) and you don't run out of funds too soon.

'Spending by Clinton Campaign Worries Supporters'

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/us/politics/22clinton.html

[ibsteve2u]

06:52 PM on 02/21/2008

I just saw on NBC's Evening News that Hillary is lining up heavy hitters for Texas, including Roy Spence.

From "Quick Facts on Roy Spence" at http://www.utexas.edu/friends/popups/spotlight_29.html

"Meets four students at UT who would change his life – Judy Trabulsi, Tim McClure, and Steve and Bill Gurasich. Together they start an ad agency called GSD&M in 1971

...

Signs on Wal-Mart, Texas Tourism, Texas Lottery, SBC, Brinker International, Fannie Mae, U.S. Olympic Committee, Krispy Kreme, Dreamworks, Dial, and more. Five-person shop becomes a 650-person business with annual revenues of $1.5 billion"

Wal-Mart...Wal-Mart...now why does that ring a bell in connection with HRC?

Hmmm...anyway, with horsepower like that telling HRC what to say, Texas could be interesting.

It is practically the home of the nasty 527, after all!

[illinoisan]

10:25 PM on 02/21/2008

I was suprised to learn that the "Don't mess with Texas" saying was bought and paid for branding by Roy Spence. I guess I was naive enough to assume it was a indigenous meme.

[mrdontplay]

06:51 PM on 02/21/2008

Consultants get rich while hard everyday workers labor for free.

Hmmm...

Now what does that remind me of?

People you are getting a preview a "trailer" if you will of the candidate that will lead our wonderful nation.

The writing is on the wall.

Hillary is willing to pay the rich upper class consultants while she stiff's her loyal everyday ground level workers.

And this is who you think has the "backs" of the sold out American worker?

I'm not seeing it.

People wake up!

Principals don't apply when convenient.

You know what your seeing is not right.

How is it that the blackwater water boy makes 10 times more than the pro-bowl soldiers we have already paid to train in our ARMY NAVY AIR FORCE and MARINES.

Call me what you will but call it like it is.

You know that's not right.

But you follow Hillary anyway, why?

You would not tolerate this behavior from anyone else...now would you?


She has shown her cards and its not looking too good.

face it.

now what will she do...? No one knows do they because desperate people do desperate things.

[ebbtide]

06:47 PM on 02/21/2008

Wow, all those millions spent on consultants who tell her what to do, to point and clap, clap, to spin and to triangulate, and she still pays them millions to give4 her this bad advice? She is losint. But her comsultants apparently will come out millions of dollars ahead. Must be Bill's buddies or her buddies and she could care less how much she pays them.

Look, Hillary and Bill, her running mate, are losing. They have paid millions upon millions of dollars to their "advisors" who have advised them terribly wrong. Never mind, just charge it. Bill will make it up with his speaking tour. Except after this, I suspect he will not be in such demand and will not be the rock star he thinks he should be. Hillary is losing and has no one but herself and
Bill to blame. Meanwhile they have to pay the "advisors" who pandered to them, in their Clintonian wisdom and they were WTONG.

There is no doubt in my mind that Hillary and Bill, have severely been skanked by their advisors, who they own millions of dollars to at this point. How smart is that?