1 How much can these people keep giving?  Isn't there supposed to be a $2000 limit?  And weren't we just talking about how we had to give to McCain by like last Monday or something, because afterwards was illegal?

Qwinn

2

He should propose a new "Support Obama" tax in the Senate, forcing everyone in the country to support his campaign budget.

 

Oh wait, he can't do that yet right? 

3 He should propose a new "Support Obama" tax in the Senate, forcing everyone in the country to support his campaign budget. Well, he already had that, with the public financing thing. Turned it down.

4

Just be patient. You'll see. That trip, in the coustom jet, with the speeches in Europe is totally going to win him the 54th state.

"The God I believe in isn't short on cash, mister." ~ Bono

5 I'm seriously about to OD on all the schadenfreudey goodness.  What a week. 

6 O had better be careful. The smell of "Loser" does not bring people to the polls.

7 there are less than 60 days till the election right?  Maybe its the bumpkin in me, but i have a hard time anybody can spend that much in that amount of time.  I really dont see money being a problem for any candidate.

8 Sorta reminds me of Howard Dean in '03
Or Edwards in '06
I wonder if Dems ever get sick of these guys wasting their money, or they just shovel it to the next guy in line.

9 there are less than 60 days till the election right?  Maybe its the bumpkin in me, but i have a hard time anybody can spend that much in that amount of time.  I really dont see money being a problem for any candidate.

The problem for Obama is that his campaign spends $42 million a month.  His overhead is $10 million a month more than McCain's, and he's supporting a paid staff of 2,000.  To keep that pace up, he's got to take time off from campaigning to attend fundraisers.

10 Just talked to the progressives I work with. They're depressed. All of O's run to the middle BS has crushed them. You dance with the girl that brung ya.

But then you find out that your big brother's banging that hot point guard on the girls varsity team.

11 This highlights the truth of McCain's "cause greater than yourself" rhetoric.  Embracing liberty means things like not raiding the public coffers to assuage your guilt or make you feel like a good and compassionate person by taking money from one person and giving it to another.  Obama, on the other hand, can't conceive of a cause greater than himself.

12 To Michelle,

Things are bad here, I need a boost in my favorables.  Taking a look at the other side, I think you need to get pregnant--and fast.  I'll assign my best guys.

13

I'm no bible scholar by far, but there are some really good quotes in that book.

Instead of twisting the meaning of Matthew 25:40 to support his socialist worldview, maybe Barry should have spent a little time with Proverbs 16:18 - "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

This is a little too personal responsibility-ish, so I doubt Rev. Wright touched on it much there at TUCC.

14

Are you saying that Obamuhhh should accept anything less than silk sheets and grapes peeled by professional handmaidens?

 

RACIST!!11!!!1!1

15 Barry's spending won't be a problem when he becomes President and he can tax you to pay for all his grand dreams.

16 The ironic thing is that Obama is the one with all the guerilla friends (Ayers, Doehrn, Klonsky, Ortega Chavez) yet he's running the establishment top heavy, money burning campaign but McCain is running the guerilla campaign.

17 "How much can these people keep giving?  Isn't there supposed to be a $2000 limit?  And weren't we just talking about how we had to give to McCain by like last Monday or something, because afterwards was illegal?"

$2300 limit for the primary, $2300 for the general.  McCain doesn't get to tap the latter because he can't take money for the general *at all* -- he took the $84mil of public funding instead.  Remember, you can still give to the RNC Victory Fund.

Note that one of the links above showed that Barry had *already* started including general election fundraising months back.

18 Obama: Listen bro I need more money....

Samuel Jackson: Motherfucker!? I've already raised over a million for your ass already. What are you doing eating the shit?

Obama: Hey, man it's all good. We are going to get PAIIIIIIIIID, remember?

Samuel Jackson: Yo fuck that Bro. I'm supporting the Cain, he's gonna let me keep my damn money. There's something wrong with your damn campaign when it costs more than the LOTR trilogy. I'm going to have to make 6 movies this year alone just to break even. I'm out.

19 How much money has this chump Obama blown through in the last 8 months?  Something like 450 million in private donations?  Glad the economy is such a disaster.

K

20 The line that sums the whole situation, and the future if he is elected, perfectly is:
"This guy really likes spending other people's money."   It is no wonder his whole campaign is based on "Change".  If he is elected, we will all be standing on the corner asking each other if we have any to spare.

21

Enough of this critiquing of Senator Obama's fiscal habits. Arugula doesn't grow on trees, you know!

22

Barack Obama: Keeping the Economy Running, Before He Even Takes Office.

Hell, when you spend that much money, someone's got to be raking it back in.

23 Hmmm, I wonder.  With Barak Hussein having to spend more time raising funds rather than campaigning, and McCain and Palin NOT having to spend as much time raising funds.  Further, consider the polls moving in the direction they are going now and just say that direction keeps giong.  That means that Palin (especially) will have more time to allocate towards Rep congressman in tight re-election races to try to get them back int Washington.

RYMB

24 That campaigning of "expats" in Europe was a real waste.

25 Hmmmm.

Don't forget all of those "50 states" campaign offices that he's now restructuring.

26 Hmmmm.

It really is pretty damn amazing how much money Obama is burning.

27 Reminds me of the classic Obama line from the primaries: "Well, um, I...what I mean is, uh..."

28 Obama's campaign spending reminds me of Richard Pryor in Brewster's Millions. Except that Pryor was intentionally trying to lose money.

29 There's something wrong with your damn campaign when it costs more than the LOTR trilogy.

That right there is a true fact. 

30

There's an awesome campaign ad in all of this for McCain if he has balls enough to use it along the lines of the Mastercard commercial...

Self-aggrandizing Greek Stage production: $3 million

Monthly Campaign Burn Rate to Support Axelrod's Astroturfing Campaign: $10 million greater than your opponent

Campaign Donations Disappeared Into Thin Air To Wind Up 10 points down in the latest poll: $450 million

McCain/Palin: Priceless...

31 Whine, whine, whine. Well, listen, Bub, fake Greek temple makers need to survive in this Great Depression, too! Day after day, members of the Denver Fake Greek Temple Makers Local 151 slog through eight-hour days of carpentry, spray-painting styrofoam, assembly of wire frames, and all you can do is mock, while they and their families live on the brink of starvation? You all make me sick.

32

"As the cost of argula continues to soar, Barrack needs your help. Give as much as you can, and more.  Remember: it's for the children."

33

Sorta reminds me of Howard Dean in '03
Or Edwards in '06

Posted by: docweasel at September 09, 2008 09:36 AM

Or, equally appropriately, Ned Lamont.

34 I believe that direct McCain campaign contributions are now moved to the RNC coffers. 

35 It all comes down to inexperience.  He's never run for national office and never run anything bigger than a Senate campaign in Illinois, which meant he had to campaign in only one city and visit a few others.

He's just overmatched.  That expresses itself in a variety of ways, both in policy and in campaign structure, but the bottom line is he's in over his head.

John McCain?  Playing him like a drum.

36

The Obamatons better get used to it.  Just open your wallet and shut up.  'Cause if the Chosen One is elected, you won't have to worry about what to do with your money.  HE has already spent it.

.

37

If running for president is supposed to give you the experieince to be president, we really blew it by not eventually electing Harold Stassen.   

Maybe Nader will make that his theme.

38

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the - Web Reconnaissance for 09/09/2008  A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.

http://thunderrun.blogspot.com/2008/09/web-reconnaissance-for-09092008.html

 

39 Lavish grandiose spending in non-critical areas rarely impresses your investors, unless they're complete idiots too. 

Let's say you're a VC looking to invest $10M in a startup.  You fork over an initial $2M, then you notice all the principals are driving new Ferrari's, strutting around in Armani suits and wearing $300 Bali shoes the next week and the research lab is curiously barren and all the manufacturing gear they were going to need to put the other $8M to work simply isn't there.

Are you gonna give'em the other $8M?  Not likely.

40 Community Organizer: Spent/wasted other people's money
Campaigner for Illinois Senator: Spent/wasted other people's money
Illinois Senator: Spent/wasted other people's money
Campaigner for U.S. Senator: Spent/wasted other people's money
U.S. Senator: Spent/wasted other people's money
Campaigner for U.S. Presidency: Spent/wasted other people's money

I could be wrong, but I'm sensing a trend here.

And somehow his is perceived as the better camp on managing the economy compared to Team McCain? I wonder if he can balance even a checkbook without unlimited funds. His wife has admitted as much when she says they have a hard time getting by with their own school bills and living expenses.

Once again, Palin "The Inexperienced" has him beat. She anages her rather large state budget just fine and, previously, operated with her husband a small business.

41

Someone, or anyone who knows:

So what about the $28,500 per ticket fundraiser Babs is doing?  How does that square with $2,300?

42 Financially blew through $100M+ while executive with Annenburg Project in Chicago - CHECK

Blowing though campaign contributions like it was primo Bolivian Flake - CHECK

Driving the Federal Deficit to new heights - ?????

Dude needs to be pimpin' his ass out there on a street corner, and stop spending money to stroke his narcissistic Greek God ego. 

43

McCain's campaign would have looked foolish bringing up his inability to run a campaign that was financially responsible, EXCEPT for the fact THAT the Great BO himself held up his uber campaign CEO skills as qualification for the presidency...so lets see...we have these fine qualities illustrated (as pertains to his finacial acumen)

 1) knows how to get in your pockets

2) doesn't keep his word (campaign finance about face)

3) a sense of entitlement  in he and his people (as his staff outspend in accomodations and that ridiculous stage for his speech)

4) Failure to make and stick to a  financial plan (apparently). I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that they actually DID have a plan, because surely they just wouldn't have raised and spent money willy-nilly like this WITHOUT a plan. Surely. They just lacked the necessary discipline to stick to it.

Hmmm, I can only imagine how much better this would look surrounded by a high margin of Dems in the House and Senate...

McCain/Palin and company need to work this...

Come what may, my day is good already! Thanks, Ace! 

44

Matthew 25? 

Sure he likes the least of his brothers, except for those annoying aborted fetuses who have the nerve to be born alive. 

45 C'mon give the guy a break. After all, he has to spend more money because he has to support campaigns and staff in 58 states while McCain must do so in only 50.

46 Qwinn @ 1: "How much can these people keep giving?  Isn't there supposed to be a $2000 limit?  And weren't we just talking about how we had to give to McCain by like last Monday or something, because afterwards was illegal?"

Um...I think you might be confusing apples with oranges.

The easier case to describe is that of Senator McCain. You and others who post here may recall that coming into the fall of 2007 he completed an application for public financing for the purpose of contesting the Republican primary.

That application was approved, as it should have been given Senator McCain would easily qualify under the applicable rules and conditions. I think there may have been some questions raised as to why he would bother even applying, given his wife Cindy at least has the sort of borrowing power that could command all that Senator McCain realistically would need to get through Super Tuesday, and indeed after almost 30 years representing Arizona in Congress over 20 as a Senator one would think backers would be lining up for the privilege of funding him that far.

But the fact is that Senator McCain co-sponsored the bill that resulted in the law that provides public financing for federal campaigns, and he knew that both options posed legal problems. Without going into more depth than necessary [at least not until invited to do so], I just note that former Governor Mitt Romney, for example, has a personal fortune at this disposal of at least $400 millions, and the not only does the law allow him to use any or all of that fortune without limitation, whatever it really is and whatever other resources were [are] open to Romney to tap into effectively dwarf whatever both McCains could come up with.

To my mind, that was part of both the attractiveness and strategic strength in Senator McCain applying so early for public financing approval. Among other things he could say honestly that he was the underdog in at least that way, and for all anyone knows that had an effect on the outcome. Mind you, he also worked Romney over pretty well in a series of TV debate-like formats, and the media and the blogosphere loved the sight of the little guy tatooing Mr Perfect Hair at every chance, like whack-a-mole. I'm not sure the Romney family enjoyed it, but about 300 million other Americans came together as one in loving every minute of it.

You may recall- it's hard to believe anyone has forgotten it- that the law in question in large part derives from the McCain-Feingold bill. So you'd figure Senator McCain might having some familiarity with its limits and its opportunities- and despite my southpaw tendencies I say more power to him for taking advantage of a law specifically designed to be taken advantage of.

The main bill was listed originally as Feingold-McCain, as most of the concepts were developed out of Senator Feingold's office. But Senator Feingold had to know [and has admitted as much] that the chances of its being passed, especially in a Senate that had a 60 vote threshold to deal with presidential veto [among other reasons] and slightly more Republicans to boot, would be greatly inhanced by putting the name McCain first, because at the time, Feingold was a neophyte, where McCain has been in the Senate since the mid-80s and his 'maverick' brand by then was pretty well established and respected on both sides of the aisle.

Now as it turned out the McCampaign didn't actually requisition or even pledge directly any funds from the public financing scheme's budget; if he had, then I don't believe we would have seen the Summer in Paris and Brittney ad campaign, to my mind the highlight of the summer for McCain [challenged only by his tour of mid-west bratwurst speakeasies and a couple of the funnier scenes in supermarkets]. However, the Democratic Party under Howard Dean, in fairness encouraged by the Republican-appointed chair of the Federal Election Commission, launched a complaint based on Senator McCain's having pledged in contingent sense, something lawyers call hypothecation, that if he were to drop out after Super Tuesday and did not choose to repay some other way, he was committed to repay from federal funds he could requisition.

I know the Dean & the Dems figured the fix was in from the outcome of the complaint before the FEC [They may have appealed it also.], and certainly none of the FEC commissioners showed any future in real judging in their reasons for dismissing the complaint-

but leaving aside what a strictly literal interpretation of the law yields- it had never been interpreted before and there has never been any seminal pronouncement by the courts as to how to approach interpreting the law, I.E. with an eye to ensuring that otherwise worthy candidates are able to compete, or with an eye to putting senators in jail-

I kind of figure this was some condition imposed by the folks who extended a loan indemnity or a line of credit indemnity or whatever his campaign got to run its mostly-shoestring budget campaign through Super Tuesday, because the amount of that was well within the capacity of Senator McCain to borrow from his wife or friends and repay over a year or so. A couple more cameos in movies plus a few product endorsements and maybe a joint book with Jon Stewart [who at that time probably would have leaped at the chance- though not no more now given he's been replaced by this New Maverick Brand Robot Model R-43], and I figure a debt of 5 to 15 mill could be retired well before he hit 75 anyway- with no discernible effect on his lifestyle or that of his wife. Come to think of it, Al Gore, who's turned a most convenient half a billion or more since 'retiring' from the political front lines to turn into a frog, would see the addition of McCain as a great product extension, and McCain, or his kids anyway, could make more through that than the beer money Cindy got.

There's a bit of suggestion in my scenario that McCains pledger didn't exactly show a lot of trust in the Senator; but some of those old timey self-made guys do everything on a handshake, and others defer everything to their accountants and lawyers, so who knows. Anyway, I figure if the effect of this law was that wierd, then it's a good thing the FEC had some power to put in a more realistic result.

It's also possible McCain wanted to do a dry run or a pre approval process for public financing in the general, on the assumption that the Dems candidate would certainly do so. I don't think even Obama would have predicted the success of the internet fund raising model.

I also don't think it amounts to a hill of beans, and hopefully you won't attribute that to partisanship. From McCain's POV, his own campaign is "directly" limited to $84mill from last Friday, but there's the RNC, all kinds of reciprocal courtesies and understandings with Republicans running for Congress, more 527s than anyone can even keep track of, a host of holy rollers, Kristol's crowd, the folks at NRO and Commentary, an entire cable network, an awful lot of friendly pundits, and a battalion of bloggers [not to mention "book authors"], so it's really hard to see how McCain is at a disadvantage when it comes to logistics.

But there is a continuing accounting worry in terms of all the un-interpreted clauses in McCain-Feingold and tax exemption provisions and the like, so McCain has had to worry a bit about that. I doubt that Karl Rove worries, though, and it appears he is skirting all that far closer. However, the general feeling is that Rove may be headed for a vacation at state expense if the Dems were to win, which tends to increase one's enthusiasm for risk taking.

On the other side, it's far more complex because it's all so free and fluid. This is by my count the 5th time The Times has floated an article hinting at money anxiety in the Obama camp, and frankly it doesn't look any more credible that the 4 that came before it. Obama made a big to-do about calling off the Dem 527s, but its not as if those can't fire up their engines pretty quick. Obama's mastermind David Plouffe clearly isn't expressing concerns. But the main reason I discount this to the same Chicken Little status as the previous 4 is that Obama clearly told his backers his sock was more than full enough to get him through the nomination, and that he would be back to them come the election proper.

And can you think of a better way to get the word out that Now Is The Time?

So I have to disagree, respectfully of course, with the Slublog's premise. Indeed, if I'm right, and there's more evidence behind my take than Slublog's, if anything this is yet another sign of Obama's entrepreurial savvy.

Or Plouffe and Axelrod at least.

47 $2300 off the top, the rest has to be laundered

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