Posted on 06/30/2004 10:46:13 PM PDT by dangus
As another thread has posted, the Drudge is Reporting that Kerry is boasting that he has shattered Bush's campaign-finance record of 2000. Actually, that shouldn't be hard since Bush's "record" was simply the first time a nominee had rejected the fund-raising caps that make a candidate eligible to receive federal funding.
A look at the 5/31/04 FEC reports is quite revealing (see link.) Bush shows that he has spent $150 million. And much of that has been spent paying now for fruits that will be yielded later, such as ground organization, research, etc. But President Bush still had over $110 million in the bank.
Meanwhile, the Democrats had spent over $300 million bashing Bush (including other primary candidates), but Kerry had only $28 million, and owed $7 million, for a net remaining amount of $21 million, even though he raised $146 million. If Kerry has still raised only $175 million, that means he only raised $29 million: not even enough to cover his expenses in May, let alone make up for his ahem, shortcomings.
Kerry had toyed with the idea of delaying his nomination so he could continue to spend primary cash, which was not subject to general-election funding caps. It looks like he may have realized that he will need general election funds!
And the irony is this financial trouble is in spite of Democrats pulling in far more money than Republicans
Will Kerry issue refunds when he loses in November? :)
Poor poor JFKerry and he still has that mortgage on his house to pay off.
This list does not even begin to account for all the "freebies" old JFKerry has been given by NYTimes, Post, Cable shows, 3 networks, etc., etc., and can't leave out the biggest donation this past month Mikie Moores load of lies.
Question
I thought Kerry couldn't use any of this money after the DNC Convention?
And isn't that only 3 weeks away??
Where is the article?
LOL, guess that campaign stop in Idaho wasn't such a bright idea after all. He is pissing away money and that is a good thing.
Yup ayup. A balanced budget. yadda yadda yadda. It is an election year, and they want to spend our money when they can't manage their own.
Fell asleep during his healthcare ad.
Sheesh, he should know better than to put an ad like that in the middle of a baseball game.
It looks like he got almost all of it from those rats in Hollywood. Here's a comprehensive list of donation records: http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/hof.php
But I thought he was suppose to take Fed money for the general election??
Wasn't that one of the reasons he wanted to delay his acceptance speech?? .. so that he could spend more money?
That's what I thought
I've seen some Kerry ads here in GA, where even Bob Dole won. He's burning some cash to advertise here.
I've heard he's doing the same in a few other states
Hmmmmmm ... I wonder how much he's really spending
Typical Dems. They spend money like crazy (though some Reps aren't much better). They are probably wasting it on lobster dinners every night. Heck, it's not their money right?
Hey John, how about returning that campaign plane? That should save some cash...
Seems like he's going to be forced to spend money defending states that you'd think were in the bag (Maine for goodness sakes, California, Arizona etc.)
Total Receipts: $148,912,737 Total Spent: $120,406,095 Cash on Hand: $28,506,641 Debts: $7,448,722 Date of last report: May 31, 2004
George Bush
Total Receipts: $215,357,708 Total Spent: $150,289,570 Cash on Hand: $110,261,092 Debts: $322,383 Date of last report: May 31, 2004
Found this at Opensecrets.org, http://www.opensecrets.org/presidential/summary.asp?ID=N00008072
Given that this money cannot be spent after Bush accepts the nomination, I would look for another massive ad blitz starting in the near future. Maybe try to drown out the Democratic Convention?
I've heard he's going heavy in Virginia, Arizona, and Arkansas as well.
This strategy by the Kerry campaign is so brain-dead stupid, I don't even know where to begin.
He's wasting alot of money trying to A.) Win states he cannot win. If come November 2nd, the country is in such a bad climate for Bush, that he's capable of winning in Virginia and Arkansas, He doesn't need them anyway! Kerry will carry every important 2000 Bush state that are much more "Swing" (Florida, Ohio, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Nevada).. Those 5 will easily swing towards Kerry.
Or he's trying B.). Throw the money at these lean Red states in a hope to get Bush to throw his money there. Which I've never really understood the logic. I think this is an overrated strategic method. Plus, it's WAY too early to be trying that crap. Moves like this are for after the Convention boosts have stabalized in September/Early October.
Kerry is pissing away millions on a terrible strategy. His TV ads are horrible. He's trying to make health care an issue, but the main problem is people who have any type of job above McDonalds, have a healthcare plan with their company.
He's spending millions trying to get voters that just aren't there.
This is the beauty of Rove's plan early on. He's spent his money defining John Kerry perfectly. If you look at the internals of the polls after this horrible 2 months for Bush, Bush's support has dropped to low-mid 40s, but people don't want Kerry either. Bush still leads in that matchup! That is the effect of the Bush ads! The negative ads against Kerry have worked as well as anyone could have possible hoped for. Nobody wants him!.
Bush has definently hit a cellar on his numbers, while Kerry isn't far from a ceiling.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.