Mike Berman’s Washington Watch

October 20, 2008 7:58 AM

The Money Game

When Obama decided to forgo the Federal grant in the general election, questions were raised as to whether he had made the right decision.

While political party spending is not quite as valuable as dollars in a candidate's campaign account, those funds can be used very effectively. In the discussion below they are treated together. [Note that this section was written on October 16th, so, while the RNC has announced its income for September, the DNC and the Obama campaign have not announced their numbers. Therefore, in the latter two cases they are WW's WAG.]

On September 1st:

McCain
Campaign Account $84,000,000
RNC $94,000,000
Total $178,000,000

Obama
Campaign Account $77,000,000
DNC $17,000,000
Total $94,000,000
McCain was $94,000,000 ahead.


Added during the month of September:

McCain
Campaign $00,000,000
(campaign cannot raise money for its own account)
RNC $66,000,000
(announced)
Total Income $244,000,000

Obama
Campaign $110,000,000
(guesstimate)
DNC $45,000,000
(guesstimate)
Total $249,000,000
Obama was likely $5,000,000 ahead.


It is clear that Obama made the right choice. While the RNC is likely to have another good month, there is no way it will come close to the combined fundraising of the Obama campaign and the DNC between now and election day.



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