It’s time to hit that Act Blue page!
John McCain, who was outraised by a 2-1 margin by Barack Obama during the presidential primaries, entered June with almost as much money as the presumptive Democratic nominee.
When combined with the Republican National Committee’s bank balance, McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, had more money to spend than Obama during the three months leading up to the national party conventions.
McCain, an Arizona senator, had $31.6 million as of May 31, compared with $33.3 million for Obama, Federal Election Commission records show. The RNC had $53.5 million to just under $4 million for the Democrats.
When combined with all those conservative 527 “swiftie-style” organizations, I’m going to guess the numbers are even more staggering. And you know the Republican National Committee will hit Obama hard using every underhanded, rotten tactic they can come up with (certification of birth certificate, middle names, Obama’s black children, etc.)
It’ll be buckets and buckets of stupidity, sure, but the RNC and conservative 527s are effective that way.
Update: “A new NEWSWEEK Poll shows that he has a substantial double-digit lead, 51 percent to 36 percent, over McCain among registered voters nationwide.”
justin
YUP, and yet, let’s all be outraged and vow to never to donate to obama or work for him again!!!
screw obama!! he gets what he deserves!!
/snarkity snark snark
jeffreyw
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Mupville — mighty Bama has struck out.
Warren Terra
You forgot to link the blockquote; Google says it’s this story on the Bloomberg wire, unless they stole three paragraphs from someone else.
Also from that story:
That is a lot closer than makes me comfortable.
Michael D.
Warren: The link is actually in the blockquoted section. You’re correct. It is Bloomberg.
myiq2xu
The Precious has all that Telco money to help him now.
El Cid
Although I do like the sense of optimism by conditions currently favoring Obama, I never have assumed this thing would be easy, painless, or cheap.
slippy hussein toad
I’ve held off because the primaries were over and I needed to give my wallet a rest.
However, the shrieking hue and cry from the FISA bill has convinced me that somebody has to keep their cool during this election. So once again this weekend I will be donating to the O-man, who has left himself at our mercy by declaring he will not accept money from lobbyists.
empty
This is not exactly true. They had a report on NPR on the dearth of republican 527’s this election season.
mellowjohn
so far….
Helena Montana
I have given Obama way more than I can afford to, and would cheerfully have kept doing so, but his position on the FISA bill leaves me really dismayed.
Even taking that into account, he’s still a better choice than McCain or Clinton, but as far as I’m concerned, he just spectacularly flunked the first leadership test.
El Cid
I agree with slippy hussein toad in that I gave about as much as I could in early primary season when business & income were better.
Like it or not, there’s probably a huge seasonal trend in political donations which will occur this season too, and probably even a lot of likely DNC / Obama donors see this as “summer” versus “early general election season”.
A lot of people I know who gave a little bit here and there during primary season are just plain burned out of it right now, so I wouldn’t necessarily conclude that current donation trends will hold.
Brian
I’m a little worried about May’s numbers, but if it turns out to be the quiet before the return of the storm, which is what I think it is, I’m not going to lose sleep over it. It’s hard to know for sure, but a lot of people could have been holding off because the end of the primary was near. Now that we’re in the general election, or closer to it, depending on how you define it, I think the numbers will shoot up. I know I just gave $50 for the first time and may give some more money next week to juice the numbers in the only way I can. In fact, if June’s number is anywhere near as big as some people say it could be–$100 would rock the world, but $80 million would do the trick as well, I imagine–then it’ll make Obama look even better. If he’s still even with McCain come August, I’ll worry, but for right now, I’ll let the Republicans have their moment in the sun. They better enjoy it while it lasts. My guess is, if the Obama camp is planning to spend serious money in Indiana and Georgia, it knows the money isn’t going to dry up.
Conservatively Liberal
I see the Obama Vultures are hanging out here this am. They keep hoping that he is going to be roadkill so they can peck and fight over the scraps while McCain sails to victory this fall.
How inspiring. I will drop some more cash in the kitty later this evening after I do our bills and figure out what little we have left to give this week.
Unlike the O-Vultures, I am working to help Obama win. All they are interested in is doing everything they can to make sure he loses just to prove their point, whatever the fuck that is.
Brian
“This is not exactly true. They had a report on NPR on the dearth of republican 527’s this election season.”
I meant to comment on that before, but I forgot.
I don’t understand how that is supposed to happen. Back in January, we heard rumblings Freedom’s Watch might spend close to $250 million for the 2008 races, and now it’s supposedly not going to happen. What changed in the last six months?
KCinDC
Warren Terra’s point about amounts raised seems more important. Cash on hand numbers should be easy to manipulate by timing spending so that you have a lot of cash at the reporting time (and perhaps much, much less the next day). Also, if McCain has lots of cash on hand because he’s not spending anything while Obama is saturating the electorate with effective ads, then that would be a good thing.
Marshall
I am willing to wait and see. The FISA bill has not passed. It may not, or it may pass in such a form it will be vetoed. Maneuverings in the Senate can be hard to assess properly from the outside, so I am willing to wait to pass judgement. But, judgement will be passed in due course. If the FISA Bill does pass in its current form, and if I feel that Obama was not vigorous and determined in his opposition, I will not be vigorous and determined in my donations.
Cris
But Obama is overexposed! Everywhere I go, there’s his face staring at me, reminding me that he stands for change and hope.
ThymeZone
McCain hasn’t been raising, or spending, a lot of money. He hasn’t needed to because he did not have any elections he needed to win for quite a while.
That all changes soon. I maxxed out on Obama’s primary campaign and I will max out on the general too. I can’t really afford to put out $5600 for political contributions, but if I held back one dollar that I could have sent, and John McCain won, then I would have let down my country, and I won’t be in that position.
My opinion of anyone who would hold back money from the Obama campaign on account of FISA is that they are goddam fools and I am ashamed to have to share a party, or even a country, with the likes of them. It’s the same way I feel about people who think the earth is 6000 years old. I don’t believe in the melting pot America model any more. I now believe that the American experiment depends on the defeat of the stupid people, and I have no use for stupid people as a result. I don’t like sharing a country with them, I wish they’d go away and start a stupid country somewhere else. And if you are one of those who is barking that you’d withhold support from Obama over FISA, then I am talking about you.
Incertus
It’s my first one, but yeah, I dropped in some money as well. Might as well put that extra summer teaching income to some use–not like I’m going to pay off credit cards or anything.
Michael D.
I really wish I could donate some money to this campaign. I fucking hate that I cannot.
LanceThruster
I got your back, soldier. I gave money to Cindy Sheehan early on. I’m now also going to match what I gave her for Sen. Obama’s presidential campaign (with some tees and other clothing as well – this is historic).