UPDATED WITH EXPENSES: Obama Has Another “Record Breaking” Month Of Spending..Look At The Numbers..And the polls: McCain 50, Obama 47 at Rasmussen
Via Byron York:
Senator Barack Obama’s campaign announced today that more than half a million new donors contributed to the Obama campaign during the month of August, bringing the total raised for the month to over $66 million and the cash on hand to more than $77 million. More than 2.5 million people have contributed to the campaign.
That seems impressive, right? Sure it is. That is a lot of money raised, but how much is being spent? Let’s look back one month:
Obama began August with $65.8 million on hand and the DNC had $28.5 million available, according to statements released Saturday.
How much is it costing to raise that money?
They had a burn rate of over 80%, which explains why the campaign may have seemed desperate to the New York Times. In order to make this decision work for Obama, they have to do better than $66 million a month if they want to cover the cost of fundraising as well as make up for the deficit between the DNC and the RNC.
He gained $11 million which is what needs to be examined. Obama says he has executive expirience from running this campaign:
BO: Well, you know, my understanding is that, uh, Governor Palin’s town of Wasilly [sic] has, uh, 50 employees, uh, uh, we’ve got 2500, uh, in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. Uh, uh, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month.
2500 employees that are taking salaries. Is his budget for operating costs $36 million for the month?
Operating Expenses (for August) of $55,029,199.67:
| ADVANCE WORK | 10,065.00 |
| BANK CHARGES/FEES | 6,261.29 |
| CATERING/FACILITIES | 171,296.39 |
| CATERING/FACILITIES IN-KIND | 531.97 |
| COMPUTER EQUIP | 187,332.04 |
| COMPUTER SOFTWARE | 75,218.20 |
| CONS./ACCT.SERV. | 22,171.97 |
| CONS./PROF.SERV. FUNDRAISING | 44,000.00 |
| CONS./PROF.SERV. MEDIA | 177,809.22 |
| CONS./PROF.SERV. RESEARCH | 19,641.34 |
| CONS/PROF.SERV. COMPUTER | 48,515.44 |
| CONTRIBUTION | 1,928,727.93 |
| CONTRIBUTION REFUND | 288,334.94 |
| CREDIT CARD FEES | 1,011,394.37 |
| DECORATIONS | 25,235.64 |
| DELIVERY | 15,382.15 |
| DOMAIN WEBSITES | 808,135.70 |
| ENTERTAINMENT | 100.00 |
| EQUIPMENT | 5,084.24 |
| EQUIPMENT IN-KIND | 15.00 |
| EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE | 67,372.25 |
| EQUIPMENT RENTAL | -3,080.14 |
| EVENT MANAGEMENT SERVICES | 25.00 |
| EVENT SITE RENTAL | 149,666.15 |
| INSURANCE | 4,913.41 |
| INTERPRETING SERVICE | 5,301.38 |
| LEGAL SERVICES | 51,541.62 |
| LICENSE FEES | 319.32 |
| LIST RENTAL MARKET VALUE | 0.00 |
| MAILING | 1,259,644.72 |
| MEDIA BUY | 32,314,308.51 |
| MEDIA PRODUCTION EXP | 759,022.42 |
| OFFICE FURNITURE | 7,721.30 |
| OFFICE SUPPLIES | 19,167.50 |
| OFFICE SUPPLIES IN-KIND | 1,570.91 |
| ON-LINE ADVERTISING | 1,314,068.46 |
| PARKING | 6,432.10 |
| PAYROLL | 2,241,563.78 |
| PAYROLL PROCESSING FEE | 5,291.41 |
| PAYROLL TAXES | 230,458.72 |
| PER DIEM | 59,740.77 |
| PHOTOGRAPHY | 1,454.25 |
| POLLING | 1,238,791.98 |
| POSTAGE | 1,645,055.37 |
| POSTAGE IN-KIND | 109.00 |
| PRINT ADVERTISING | 1,718,100.75 |
| PRINTING | 151,619.20 |
| PUBLICATIONS/ SUBSCRIPTIONS | 8,833.52 |
| RENT/OCCUPANCY | 138,442.47 |
| RESEARCH MATERIALS | 200.00 |
| SECURITY | 13,442.77 |
| STAGING, SOUND, LIGHTING | 1,259,018.47 |
| STATE BUSINESS TAX | 346.88 |
| STRATEGY | 74,000.00 |
| TELEMARKETING | 1,552,599.67 |
| TELEPHONE | 201,133.23 |
| TELEPHONE IN-KIND | 20.00 |
| TRAVEL AGENCY FEES | 30,820.11 |
| TRAVEL/LODGING | 5,822,466.59 |
| TRAVEL/LODGING IN-KIND | 200.00 |
| UTILITIES | 6,210.25 |
| WEB SITE HOSTING | 43,288.37 |
Obama’s monthly spend by category for August
McCain’s monthly spend by category for August
Obama’s monthly spend by category for August
McCain’s monthly spend by category for August
Some August highlights:
Media: Obama $32.3M, McCain $13.7M
Payroll: Obama $2.2M, McCain $0.9M
Postage: Obama $1.6M, McCain $3.1M
Travel: Obama $5.8M, McCain $1.5M
John McCain can only spend $84 million over the next two months after accepting that much from the public-financing system, but he has two advantages. His time will not be spent at fund raisers and he can rely on the RNC, which is raising money at a faster pace than the DNC.
Ed:
The Obama campaign’s burn rate will be critical in determining whether he’s actually raising enough money to keep him ahead of McCain. If it costs him more than $20 million to raise that money, it’s essentially a wash ” and the burn rate at Team O has been much higher than 30%. Their cash-on-hand numbers will probably tell a different story, as Obama would have to almost double McCain’s $84 million over the next two months just to stay even.
A reminder of dated info from the beginning of the year:
Excessive Compensation for Political Consultants
the article pointed out that the Obama campaign also has highly paid consultants. The firm of his top media strategist, David Axelrod, has received $175,000 in January and $1.2 Million since the beginning of the campaign. The article did not indicate how much of this money went directly to Mr. Axelrod and the Obama campaign refuses to disclose this. However, an article in the Los Angeles Times today indicated that Wolfson’s counterpart in the Obama campaign, Robert Gibbs, is paid $144,000 a year. His campaign manager, David Plouffe, is paid the same amount.  Why the big difference? Wolfson came from the private sector where he was well paid while Gibbs and Plouffe both worked in the public sector; Gibbs worked on Obama’s Senate staff while Plouffe worked for Richard Gephardt and for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
How is all that fund raising panning out for Obama?
realclearpolitics-electoral-map
McCain 50, Obama 47 at Rasmussen
Minnesota Poll: Obama, McCain are dead even in state
Florida may be falling from Obama’s grasp
And Pennsylvania? According to Zogby, Obama is down by five:
