June Campaign Finance Numbers: Obama Raises $52 Million
The AP reports that Barack Obama reversed a two-month downward trend by raising more and spending less. He took in $52 million in June, more than twice the nearly $21.5 million raised by John McCain. Obama had $72 million cash on hand to McCain's $27 million.
The Politico points out that Obama raised $25 million on the last day of June alone:
His one-day haul represents nearly half of his monthly total and more than Republican rival John McCain generated for the entire month. During the month, McCain did not have a single day in which he raised a million dollars.
But, the Politico explains, McCain isn't Obama's real competition:
It also is the minimum the Illinois senator will need to generate each month between now and November if he is to match the more than $200 million budget the Republicans have set for boosting McCain's campaign.
The true competitor to Obama will be the Republican National Committee, rather than McCain, who has agreed to accept about $84 million in public financing for his general election campaign.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, loaned herself another $1 million after leaving the race. The Washington Post details:
Clinton raised just $2.7 million in June and finished the month with $25.2 million in campaign debt, most of that, $13.175 million, owed to Clinton herself, according to her report to the FEC. She has said she will seek to repay the campaign's debts to others before paying herself back. Campaign vendors awaiting payment included the firm of strategist Mark Penn, owed $5.3 million, and the Dewey Square Group, owed $236,000.
The campaign also owed local firms in states such as Pennsylvania and Indiana, where Clinton fought in late, competitive primaries. She owed nearly $1,800 to Kokomo Center Schools in Indiana, for instance, and nearly $6,000 to Dakota Pizza in Wynnwood, Pa.
| July 21, 2008 08:34 AM