Fundraising

Influential blogger and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas caused a first-class kerfuffle on an economy-class budget, announcing that he would be withholding his $2300.00 donation from Barack Obama's campaign until he sees some "good behavior." From Daily Kos:

First, he reversed course and capitulated on FISA, not just turning back on the Constitution, but on the whole concept of "leadership". Personally, I like to see presidents who 1) lead, and 2) uphold their promises to protect the Constitution.

Then, he took his not-so-veiled swipe at MoveOn in his "patriotism" speech.

Finally, he reinforced right-wing and media talking points that Wes Clark had somehow impugned McCain's military service when, in reality, Clark had done no such thing.

Markos goes to great pains to explain that he still supports Obama, but that he won't be anyone's "water carrier."

He also tries to downplay the importance of his donation (with a 739-word story on the most popular blog in the universe.)

I applaud Markos for not being a water-carrier now, but it makes me wonder where he's been this whole campaign.

John McCain's campaign has released a new web video mash-up. It's simply Barack Obama, in his own words, all in context. The one minute video is titled "Words." It takes on Obama's most recent public lie.

In a symbolic move that is meant to carry on the "people-powered" movement that has fueled millions of donations to Barack Obama's presidential campaign and helped down-ticket Dems via ActBlue and other fund-raisers, MoveOn.org's 527 group, MoveOn Voter Fund, will be shut down.

While the MoveOn.org PAC is an FEC registered political action group, such groups as these are limited to $5000 per year cap on individual contributions and cannot take corporate donations. The Voter Fund by contrast could take unregulated corporate donatons. While still active on paper, this 527 has actually been inactive for a couple of years.

From the letter sent to MoveOn members on Friday:

For almost ten years, we've worked together to change American politics. Millions of us have collaborated to build a new progressive moment, catalyzed by the Internet and motivated by our belief that the country we love deserves better.

Now, in Barack Obama, we have a Presidential candidate who has based his campaign on precisely that kind of new politics-a people-driven politics focused on the outside-of-the-beltway consensus around Iraq, climate change, and health care, not the gridlock in Washington.

According to the Politico, it looks like McCain cannot thank Hillary enough for her help in leveling the playing field on the money front.

For the first time in the campaign, Republican John McCain in May raised about the same amount of money, $22 million, as Democrat Barack Obama.

McCain also closed the gap in the amount of cash in the bank the two parties' presumptive presidential nominees have at their respective disposals as they enter the first phase of the general election.

McCain reported having about $32 million in cash for primary related expenses at the end of May.
Obama reported having $43 million in hand at the start of June-but about $10 million of that is dedicated to the general election.

Obama's fundraising in May marked a sharp fall-off after months of record-breaking donations. Even in difficult times, such as when he suffered a key loss in Pennsylvania in April, Obama brought in a steady flow of cash that usually topped $30 million a month.

In other years the RNC is having a banner year:

As The Times' campaign finance guru Dan Morain points out, the sums are significant as presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain squares off against the far more richly-funded Sen. Barack Obama for the last 136 days of the general election campaign.

Based on the numbers so far, the Republican Party appears poised to act as the financial equalizer in the fall campaign. The RNC disclosed that it ended May with $53.5 million in the bank, compared to $3.9 million for the Democratic National Committee, which is headed by Howard Dean.

Another reason why Obama turned down public financing? Turns out he's not building the unassailable war chest everyone thought he was. This is pure speculation on my part, but my guess is that the business community is tilting heavily toward McCain due to rising gas prices and Obama's ambivalence on NAFTA.

But things are not all rosy with the McCain campaign, and I don't want to leave that impression. The Barack bounce is real, he is leading the polls and McCain has a long, long way to go. It isn't over, but McCain should be thankful the election isn't tomorrow.

Was there really a time when Rudy Giuliani was the GOP front runner? Surely that occurred in some alternate reality, right? These days Rudy is unemployed, aimless and deep in debt. To help get rid of some of that red ink, not to mention get back in the public eye, he has come up with an unorthodox idea. Rudy's offering to appear at fund raisers for Republican candidates... as long as some of the cash drummed up ends up in his coffers. That's right, he wants a percentage of the money he helps raise.

The unusual request underscores the financial predicament Mr. Giuliani finds himself in, after he ended his presidential bid this year with roughly $3.6 million in campaign debt. Traditionally, prominent party figures help lower-tier candidates by headlining fund-raising events in return for good will and future political alliances, but do not receive funds themselves.

Mr. Giuliani's debt includes a $500,000 personal loan that he made to the campaign, according to his latest campaign finance report.

Giuliani's plan is not sitting well with some GOP officials, who accuse him, anonymously, of selfishly trying to take money desperately needed by local candidates:

"In a year when our candidates are struggling to raise money, this is just another burden," said a leading Republican Party strategist, who was briefed about the mayor's request. "This is not about helping the party. This is about helping Rudy Giuliani."

Neither the GOP nor Giuliani's campaign is saying how many candidates have taken Rudy up on his cash grab. I'm betting that's because none have.

And I'm sure she could use help from Obama to pay down some serious campaign debt:

The clock is ticking fast on her personal loan, made to her campaign after Super Tuesday, due to federal laws meant to keep politicians from lining their own pockets with contributions from contributors.

The last day Clinton can solicit contributions to repay the personal debt is Aug. 28 - the day Obama is set to be nominated at the Democratic convention. After that, Clinton can't be reimbursed by more than $250,000 - a tiny fraction of her outstanding loan.

Some reports have speculated that the personal loan may be much higher than the $11 million reported.

The other issue is Clinton's overall campaign debt, which has swelled to as high as $30 million, according to some reports.

And that's where Obama could come in and save her by telling his donors to direct their contribution to her payoff. I see that as unlikely. That article did not do a good job of explaining what happens after August, but this NPR article does:

The 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, however, pushes her the other way - setting no deadline for paying creditors but giving her only until the August convention to repay herself. After that, all but $250,000 of her $11.4 million in loans would automatically be converted into unrecoverable campaign contributions. The Millionaires Amendment in McCain-Feingold sets that deadline to prevent self-financing candidates from collecting and pocketing contributions years after their campaigns have folded.

Ah-ha, since a lot of this is actually Bill's money, this might explain a lot; her staying in, his blowing his top last week. They're probably going to end up personally in the hole for this venture. As it should be, since the Clintons are top earners and are likely to remain so. Assuming they stay married, as a divorce would open one big can of worms.

Keeping in line with Barack Obama's policy, the Democratic National Committee won't accept donations from lobbyists and political committees heading into the general election against John McCain. Obama is keeping Howard Dean as the DNC head, and sent adviser Paul Tewes over to Democrats' headquarters to oversee the changes.

To be clear, AP notes - Obama does accept money from lobbyists who don't do business with the federal government and he accepts money from lobbyists' spouses and family members. He does have lobbyists for whom he relies on for policy and campaign support, even though they may not be paid. He has had unpaid advisers with federal lobbying clients, and some campaign officials have been lobbyists in their prior lives.

DNC officials said Thursday the committee had raised $4.7 million in May, bringing the total raised this election cycle to $82.3 million; $2 million came from PACs over the past 16 months. The Center for Responsive Politics says the DNC raised $53,360 from executives or associates in lobbying firms so far. Those numbers make up a small total of total money donated anyway. For comparison, the RNC said it raised $166 million so far and had $53.6 million in the bank at the end of last month. The DNC had $4 million in its account.

But another, perhaps more interesting, money story out today is that both Democrats and Republicans are using local "host committees" in Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul as vehicles for unlimited soft money contributions to their conventions this year.

The onslaught of national campaign commercials usually begins after Labor Day, when candidates get their federal matching funds. But you'll be seeing Barack Obama ads right away since he's expected to skip federal funds, which means he doesn't have to adhere to rules about when and how much you can spend. The reason Obama can do that is because his campaign is filthy stinking rich.

Obama has out-raised John McCain more than three-to-one, $265 million to McCain's $90 million. Wow. And the money is still rolling in, of course, now that he's definitely the nominee.

"Money is not dispositive," said Jim Jordan, who advised (John) Kerry in his 2004 presidential campaign. "But I would rather outspend my opponent 4 to 1 than be outspent 4 to 1."

With Obama expected to face an onslaught from Republicans and their allies -- who may go after his lack of experience and his controversial former church affiliation -- having the money available now means at the very least that Democrats would be better positioned this year to respond to the kind of Swift boat attacks that damaged Kerry during his cash-starved weeks.

For his part, McCain isn't worried, yet. He's getting help from the Republican National Committee. Parties can raise a lot more at a time than individual candidates and it appears the RNC has and is ready to spend millions to help bridge the financial gap between the candidates.

In March we told you about the difficulty Denver was having getting funding for the Democratic Convention in August. The city needs just over $40 million by June 16 and today with little more than two weeks left it's still $15 million in the hole.

The main reason for the shortfall? Many place the blame on the ongoing nomination battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. It seems donors don't want to pony up until they see a resolution.

The GOP on the other hand has plenty of cash:

The Democrats' situation contrasts markedly with that of the Republicans, whose committee is on budget in its $39 million fund-raising drive for the Republican National Convention, to be held in Minneapolis-St. Paul on Sept. 1-4. Teresa McFarland, a spokeswoman for the host committee, said it expected to meet its June 15 target of having 80 percent of the money raised by that date.

The Denver fundraising committee is scrambling to woo corporate underwriters and is even working up a backup plan in case the convention has to be held on the cheap.

As Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton continue their battle for the Democratic nomination, John McCain has been raking in campaign contributions. He's still not raising anywhere near the amount of money as the two Democratic contenders, but he has the advantage of having the Republican National Committee machine behind him.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Arizona senator has been headlining of high-dollar GOP fundraisers from the San Joaquin Valley in California to Wall Street. As a reward for raising $250,000, former Univison Chairman A. Jerrold Perenchio, MGM Chairman Harry Sloan and eight will reportedly "receive a Private Greet with Senator McCain, a Private Reception with Photo Opportunity and Premier Seating at Dinner," reads the invitation to a Los Angeles event this week at the home of RNC finance committee chairman and venture capitalist Elliott Broidy. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Nancy Reagan are expected to make appearances. That Times says the fundraiser is expected to take in more than $5 million for McCain and the Republican Party.

McCain's fundraisers are bringing in money for his campaign, as well as the state and national GOP operations. Because McCain is the presumed Republican nominee for the White House general election, he has access to RNC funds. He needs those funds to compete, especially if the money machine that is Obama is the Democratic nominee. McCain, for example, raised $18 million in April, as compared to Obama's $31 million. Whereas Obama romps the competition with money raised from small donors, McCain raises more - as a percentage of total money raised - than the Illinois senator from donors giving $2,300 or more

Although McCain himself can only raise $2,300 per donor because of campaign finance rules, the RNC can raise $28,500 per donor. Donors can give up to $10,000 to the California party's federal political action committee, plus another $2,300. The Times notes that by the end of April, McCain and the RNC had $62 million in the bank - $10 million more than Obama and the Democratic National Committee.