Posted on 11/13/2007 6:57:37 PM PST by Jean S
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has more than tripled her campaign spending in South Carolina, taking aggressive action in a state political experts call a “must-win” for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) because of its high percentage of black voters.
While most attention has focused on the race between Clinton and Obama in Iowa, and to a lesser extent New Hampshire, competition between the two Democratic front-runners has quietly intensified in the Palmetto State since the end of June.
The gathering activity in the first Southern primary state shows that while Obama’s performance in Iowa is crucial, as his aides have acknowledged, a loss in South Carolina could slam the door on his campaign.
“For one candidate, there is a line being drawn,” said Joe Werner, executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party. “He feels he has to carry South Carolina. That candidate is Sen. Obama.”
In the second quarter of this year, Obama spent $150,000 on staff salaries in South Carolina, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Overall, he spent $480,000 in the state between April 1 and June 30.
Clinton spent $38,000 on salaries and $120,000 overall in the state during the same period.
Between July 1 and Sept. 30, however, Clinton spent $375,000 in South Carolina, according to spending data collected by the FEC. Clinton has now spent $323,000 on staff salaries in the state.
Obama’s spending, meanwhile, has remained relatively consistent. He spent $410,000 on the state in the third quarter of this year, about $70,000 less than between April and June.
Werner, who worked briefly for Clinton’s campaign before taking a position with the state party, noted that black voters are expected to make up 50 percent of the Democratic primary electorate in South Carolina.
Since the beginning of the year, Werner said Obama has worked assiduously to build his campaign infrastructure in the state but that Clinton has begun to catch up.
“If you’re just talking about sheer spending and number of people on the ground, it would appear the Clinton campaign has caught up,” said Werner.
Within the last few weeks, Clinton opened four regional offices across the state.
“Up until this point it was a grassroots-driven campaign,” said Zac Wright, Clinton’s South Carolina spokesman. “Now we’re organizing with staff on the ground to utilize that grassroots drive you’re seeing.
“This is a plan to win, period,” he said when asked if the effort was intended to put pressure on Obama in a state integral to his political calculus.
Ross K. Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University, said Clinton’s increased activity in South Carolina is significant from the perspective of winning black voters in other primary states.
“There’s a battle between Clinton and Obama over the African-American vote,” he said. “The first big test of the African-American vote will be in South Carolina. Subsequent primaries will be held in states with fairly significant African-American populations. The idea is to lay down a marker that Clinton will contest the African-American vote in all those places.”
Baker cited New York, New Jersey and California as big states with large African-American populations that will vote on Feb. 5.
Charles Finocchiaro, a professor of political science at the University of South Carolina, said he was surprised Clinton had not spent more in the state earlier this year.
“It does make sense to me that this would be a both fertile ground for Obama and, given the demographics, a state he would want to and need to do well in,” he said.
Finocchiaro speculated that Clinton may be turning more attention to South Carolina because she has established comfortable leads in Iowa and New Hampshire.
But Clinton’s spokesman said the timing is part of a long-term plan.
“This is where we planned to be all along on the course to victory,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Obama said that Clinton is trying to match the impressive support the Illinois lawmaker already enjoys in the state.
“Our guess is that it is an attempt to compete with the unprecedented grassroots organization we have in the state of South Carolina,” said Jen Psaki. “Without running a single television ad and with voters facing a deficit of knowledge about Obama, we have been able to establish a solid foundation in the state that continues to grow.”
Another notable increase in campaign spending took place in Nevada, which is expected to host a caucus between the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. Former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), who rounds out the top tier of Democratic candidates, almost doubled his spending in the Silver State in the third quarter.
Between April 1 and June 30, Edwards spent $112,000 in Nevada, according to FEC records. From July 1 to Sept. 30, he increased his spending to $213,000. Obama increased his spending by $15,000 and Clinton boosted hers by $43,000.
Edwards may calculate that his populist message will have special appeal in a state where organized labor plays a stronger role than in many states. At the beginning of this month Edwards announced the hiring of a new state director, deputy political director and senior adviser in Nevada.
Edwards saw his spending in South Carolina drop from $221,000 in the second quarter to $141,000 in the third. The state is also considered important to his political chances. He was born in Seneca, S.C., and carried the state in the 2004 presidential primary.
While campaign expenditures indicate the level of activity in a specific state, they are not dispositive. For example, campaign mailings are sometimes sent by out-of-state companies and state operatives sometimes list home addresses out of state.
In the Republican primary, state spending figures show that Florida is shaping up as a crucial battleground. Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) poured $611,000 into the Sunshine State in the third quarter. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) spent $433,000 during the same period. Romney dropped $356,000 and McCain shelled out $131,000.
A Florida Republican strategist noted that Thompson aides have said Florida would be one of their highest electoral priorities.
Obama spent a whopping $1 million in Florida, and Clinton spent $259,000. But figures for Florida are deceptive indicators of campaign activity such as grassroots organizing because much money spent there is devoted to fundraising activity. Florida has been a traditional fundraising hub for both parties.
hope she pours masses of $$$ there and that she STILL loses it.
Vast amounts of stolen money from low lifes and Chinese Military Intelligence. Why are Obama and Edwards even bothering to run? The crooked Clintons stole the election, and these wimp candidates don’t complain.
Maybe a little panic is setting in. Bwhahahahahahahahaha.
Big deal... All she has to do is hit up some minimum wage earning Chinese waiters and bus-boys and she’s got these expenses covered... No Problem!
Hillary has thought she was on a coronation tour, not an election campaign.
I will always wonder why she thought she had to be president to compete with Bill. Win or lose, I will always wonder about the competitive nature of their half-baked marriage and their half-baked political partnership.
Bet all the bills have Chinese writing scratched on them!
and printed in North Korea.
Come on beast! We need you to pull this out. We’ll be waiting for you.
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