Posted on 09/09/2008 4:18:03 PM PDT by Zakeet
On the night of Sept. 16, Barack Obama will not be in Cincinnati, Ohio, or Lebanon, Va., or Grand Rapids, Mich., or any of the other swingiest regions of the swingiest swing states. Instead, the Democratic presidential nominee will start his evening at a 46,000 square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills, then proceed to the posh Beverly Wilshire hotel, where rooms start at $495 a night. Needless to say, Obama won't be prospecting for votes in the Golden State, where he currenty leads Republican rival John McCain by an insurmountable 15-point margin. He'll be mining for money.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. When Obama opted out of public financing--unlike McCain, who gladly accepted an $84.1 million check from the American taxpayers on Sept. 5--the chattering classes predicted that his efficient Web-based small-donor money machine would rake in "around or above $300 million" for the two-month general election campaign, a sum even larger than his record-shattering $272 million primary haul. But as we noted (first on July 11 and again on Aug. 19) "the real surprise" of this year's cash chase is that "it's much more competitive than anyone expected." Take July, for example. While Obama netted a massive $51 million--again clobbering McCain, who racked up $27 million--the important statistic to look at is the combined amount of cash-on-hand for each candidate and his party (i.e, how much is actually available to spend on getting the nominee elected). In this case, the totals were nearly identical: the Republicans finished the month with $96 million in the bank ($75 million for the RNC, $21 million for McCain) versus $94.3 million for the Democrats ($25.8 million for the DNC, $65.8 million for Obama).
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.newsweek.com ...
No doubt that on Sept. 16 Obama would rather be in Ohio than Beverly Hills, listening to a working mom talk about her economic struggles instead of listening to Barbara Streisand sing. No doubt his political strategists--keenly aware of how the rest of American will interpret Streisand + mansions + Hollywood--would agree. But it isn't quite working out that way.
Who cares. He is a total loser!! It’s going to be a landslide no matter how much $$$ he raises. He is toast and I ain’t talkin’ Melba!
Insurmountable ... The way Lbama's® is fading anything is possible
As a GOP partisan, hell yes!
Ah but you don't want to embarrass the Oessiah by reporting those numbers now do you Newsweak?
I guess his “experience” running a campaign doesn’t trump a Governor or a Maverick...
He broke his word, a man is only as good as his word. That about sums up the Obama candidacy.
who cares??? this is a GREAT talking point for McCain to stick it to hussien....hussien pointed to running his campaign as part of his “executive decision making experience”....
if his decision for forgo public financing continues to be a question McCain and the GOP MUST ask loudly if this guy can’t run a 2500 person campaign how can he run this country??!!!
We know the answer but this could score big points with the undecided!!!
Hmm, I wouldn't be so cock-sure about that. Given a little Bradley effect, and a little evangelical turnout, and demoralized Dems, who knows what might happen?
-ccm
Remember Howard Dean and his money machine. He was done before Super Tuesday in 04.
Ya he goofed up bigtime. He’ll have to do a fundraiser almost everyday while the McCuda team is free to go into full campaign mode.
and his money are soon parted...
Don’t count your chickens.... Besides, we known how Reagan handled Democrats in firm control of Congress. What will McCain do with a big majority of Dems? A landslide would be a moral victory (what did that accomplish for Bush 1? Nothing, he squandered it), but don’t forget the other races.
He’s not fit to be my latex salesman.
So, this is what he boasted as 'executive experience'?
I don't think anyone realizes the affect Sarah will have on other races.
Ok,don’t worry be happy.
If politicians kept their word 33% of the time, that would put them in the US Government Hall of Fame.
Even if they hit no home runs.....
Does anyone know the requirements for accepting Public Financing? Does he have to prove he is eligible for the office he is seeking? A little thing like providing proof of citizenship may be why he opted out.
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