2012 Tuesday: Obama’s failing to out-raise the GOP this time
A little over a year ago, independent analysts were projecting that Barack Obama’s re-election campaign could raise an unprecedented $1 billion. Now, the president’s team is lamenting he may be the first incumbent outspent by his opponent and has taken to asking supporters to forgo wedding gifts and ask their friends to donate to his campaign instead:
How the mighty have fallen.
We can get into the reasons for this drop-off, which includes fewer contributions from donors both large and small, but let’s also get ahead of an emerging meme in the election: that Mitt Romney and the Republicans are trying to “buy” the presidency.
Most of the people making these complaints didn’t have much to say four years ago, when Obama was the first major-party presidential candidate to forgo public campaign financing and outspent John McCain by half a billion dollars, or more than 3-to-1. And few of them will rue the fact that Obama will end up spending about as much money this time, just that Romney will far outpace McCain’s 2008 total and possibly edge the president.
Minus the hypocrisy, I have no problem with the lack of complaints about Obama in 2008. Campaign contributions are a form of political speech, and there simply were more people wishing to speak via their wallets in favor of Obama than for McCain. If McCain’s team thought it could have raised $500 million more in 2008 by forgoing public financing, I expect they would have done so. (If they thought so and held off anyway, well, they sure proved their point, huh?!?)
The fact is that, this time around, Obama has a record as president that he’s having a hard time defending. It appears there are fewer people this time wishing to speak on his behalf via their wallets, and more people speaking in favor of his opponent. If the left didn’t think there was a national campaign-finance crisis in 2008, they shouldn’t think there is one now.
And it’s not as if he isn’t out there trying to raise money. Today’s fund-raisers in Atlanta, among four today alone, bring Obama’s total number of events to 104 this year (more than one every two days) and 171 since he filed for re-election, according to Mark Knoller, White House correspondent for CBS News.
The message just isn’t selling — literally — this go around.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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211 comments Add your comment
md
June 26th, 2012
6:07 pm
“Obama lead growing in Florida.”
The number you may want to follow is the % of the incumbent…..historically, if it is under 50%, the undecided tend to vote with the challenger……currently, most of Obama’s numbers are below 50%.
We’ll see if history holds………
getalife
June 26th, 2012
6:22 pm
I challenge you cons to find planet kolob and a store that sells magic underwear.
willard created jobs in China and India so you cons are voting to lose your jobs.
td
June 26th, 2012
6:25 pm
getalife
June 26th, 2012
6:22 pm
“willard created jobs in China and India so you cons are voting to lose your jobs”
Or we are voting on the only person that understands what changes need to be made in the US to get those jobs and many others back to the US. How many jobs has Obama created since taking office? .
yuzeyurbrane
June 26th, 2012
6:25 pm
So what? Have you heard of Citizens United? Obama will still have more donors before all is done. But it certainly helps when you can get almost $1 billion from a couple of hundred persons (corporations are persons, too, my friend) exercising their right of buying an election. . . excuse me, right of free speech. Money isn’t everything but it sure helps.
td
June 26th, 2012
6:30 pm
yuzeyurbrane
June 26th, 2012
6:25 pm
So why are all these rich Dems (Buffet, Gates, Soros, Hollywood and GM) not ponying up for Obama? They are just as rich as the Republican donors. Could it be because they do not believe in him any longer?
md
June 26th, 2012
6:30 pm
“willard created jobs in China and India so you cons are voting to lose your jobs.”
I bet he kept the profit here though, which means capital to run OUR system in the form of more loans to companies here……like what he did with Staples and Sports Authority, all the while using private capital.
Vs the Obama model of using tax dollars to bail out a company such as Chrysler and then selling it to the Italians, guaranteeing the profits and capital are now in THEIR system………….
md
June 26th, 2012
6:34 pm
And in actuality getalife, it’s the ones that keep buying the goods from overseas that makes the difference, so it matters not where the goods are made if we the idiot consumer is going to keep buying them.
Apple has the tiger by the tail with a boatload of idiot consumers standing in line to buy their goods made in China, which in turn causes direct pressure on the wages of the idiot making the purchase…….go figure.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 26th, 2012
6:35 pm
yuzeyurbrane: Money isn’t everything but it sure helps.
———————
Does a candidate’s money influence YOUR vote?
Amazing that no libtard ever admits that. It’s always “the other” who is under the spell of campaign ads.
Jm
June 26th, 2012
6:54 pm
Good column Kyle
Ain't that a sham
June 26th, 2012
7:01 pm
Do corporations that spend millions per year on advertising in various ways to push their products and services think it works?
Not saying this from a political perspective. Just asking a question
Jm
June 26th, 2012
7:01 pm
-jay
“Crier, a Mitch Daniels or Chris Christie or Jeb Bush — if freed from the ideological straitjackets demanded by their party — would probably be a viable alternative. But that condition is unlikely to be met, which is probably why Mitch Daniels has chosen to leave politics to become president of Purdue and why Bush refused to throw his hat into the ring. Bush all but acknowledged that fact in recent comments.
Even a Mitt Romney, freed from the ideological straitjackets demanded y his party, might have been acceptable. But Romney doesn’t want to be freed; he likes the servitude and obeisance he must pay as long as it gets him what he wants.”
- Kyle I scratch my head about your co-worker
He has concocted a new “plantation con” theory that is fascinatingly absurd
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
June 26th, 2012
7:08 pm
Jm, just as an aside, Kyle doesn’t like us to disparage Bookman on this site.
Even if it is really good fun!
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
June 26th, 2012
7:10 pm
“willard created jobs in China and India so you cons are voting to lose your jobs.”
getaclue kinda missed the whole Bain thing when Romney wasn’t at it’s head.
In the real world, we call this “The President is LYING”.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
June 26th, 2012
7:37 pm
Aint that
Do corporations that spend millions per year on advertising in various ways to push their products and services think it works?
_____________________________
Corporations are good stewards of their advertising money, they are selective, and spend their money peddling the best products they produce.
If you are a politician like Oblamer, you have nothing to sell that anyone wants to buy, so your political ad money is wasted.
Ain't that a sham
June 26th, 2012
7:38 pm
Rafe
Didn’t ask that question but thanks for your non answer.
The question is, do they think it works?
md
June 26th, 2012
7:42 pm
“Do corporations that spend millions per year on advertising in various ways to push their products and services think it works? ”
Of course they think it works….and it does…..
But then the unions also thinks it works hence the dollars they throw at candidates…….
And the media thinks it works hence the airtime it spends orchestrating their preferences……..
and on and on……it’s all part of the great game of politics………
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
June 26th, 2012
7:49 pm
“Do corporations that spend millions per year on advertising in various ways to push their products and services think it works?”
Yes, they do. Of course, you can try their product and throw it away if you don’t like it.
We’re stuck with it for 4 years minimum, and no amount of advertising can change the public’s perception of a bad product.
Ain't that a sham
June 26th, 2012
7:50 pm
Thanks for the answer
So they think it works
Ok
Ain't that a sham
June 26th, 2012
7:51 pm
md
I was speaking about products and services
Not about who gives how much and to whom, but thanks for your political take on the issue
Jm
June 26th, 2012
7:53 pm
Tiberius fair enough, but be that as it may, that is just crazy stuff….
md
June 26th, 2012
7:57 pm
“I was speaking about products and services”
Well…ok, but here it seems everybody has a hidden meaning.
As for products/services, it’s all about product branding and name recognition…..get it into the mind and it sells. Happy Meals in the kids heads……”Kleenex”, don’t know about your family but mine doesn’t ask for tissue, it asks for kleenex….”Coke” in the south means ALL sodas….”want a coke?” (it’s pop to the dang folks from up yonder
)
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
June 26th, 2012
7:57 pm
Ain’t
It works, on products people are thinking seriously about buying.
If they have no interest in buying manure, no promotion in the world or the lowest price of the season is not going to push them to buy. So, in politics as I said, few want to buy what they are peddling, so they are wasting their money.
retiredds
June 26th, 2012
8:03 pm
Rafe, Bush instituted Part D (It was enacted as part of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) and went into effect on January 1, 2006. Source: Wikipedia)
TD, I write not only my congressmen, senators, but also the President, the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader, the Senate Minority Leader, and congressional and senate committee members. My GA reps reply, usually a form letter that sometimes addresses my questions or comments, and I appreciate that. But I doubt if they would interrupt an important meeting to speak with me because I am not a $50,000 + donor AND that was my point.
Ain't that a sham
June 26th, 2012
8:03 pm
Rafe
Thanks
JKL2
June 26th, 2012
8:09 pm
George Soros says,”What?”
MoveOn.org, nothing to see here…
JohnnyReb
June 26th, 2012
8:13 pm
I have had it up to here with all this Moonbat crying about Citizens United; that corporations are not people, etc, ad nauseum.
Contributions to candidates remains limited. The Left is free to give as much as they wish to whatever PAC they choose. What a bunch of cry babies.
Stay after them, Kyle.
Hillbilly D
June 26th, 2012
8:44 pm
Big Business is 100% behind Romney
Does that include General Electric, Wells Fargo and Berkshire Hathaway?
Big business hedges their bets. They’ll win, no matter who wins.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 26th, 2012
8:48 pm
Well, Obozo spent more money last time and won, so I guess the Democrat sheeple DO vote based on who runs more ads.
Thanks for helping us clear that up, Ain’t.
Hillbilly D
June 26th, 2012
8:49 pm
a boatload of idiot consumers standing in line to buy their goods made in China, which in turn causes direct pressure on the wages of the idiot making the purchase…….go figure.
That’s about the size of it. If you give a man a rope, don’t be surprised when he tries to hang you.
West Indian Charlie
June 26th, 2012
9:02 pm
I see that the Plutocrats and Oligarchies are hell bent on making sure that they buy this election to make sure that Romney turn the country into a Plutocracy or a Oligarchy.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 26th, 2012
9:04 pm
Too much free speech makes the Democrats cry.
They must be very weak-minded to fear advertising with messages that differ from the view of the world from their bubble.
md
June 26th, 2012
9:05 pm
Unfortunately HD, the consumers here don’t seem bright enough to understand that the goods they buy are cheaper because they were made with cheaper labor but when a company uses their labor to make the same goods the consumer basically says it cost too much when they continue to buy the cheaper made elsewhere goods……..been going on for half a century and folks still haven’t figured it out.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 26th, 2012
9:07 pm
So we want to bring the jobs that are worth $0.73 an hour back to these shores?
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
June 26th, 2012
9:13 pm
You have to either let those low wage jobs go to the low wage countries, or shut the door and turn isolationist.
Isolationism is a guaranteed road to a lower standard of living for more people. If you want to see a real 99%/1% type of economy, rather than the faux astroturf version, go for isolationism.
Samantha
June 26th, 2012
9:19 pm
Obama’s last campaign was pure advertising. Mindless repetion of Hope and Change with no specifics. We hoped for a different kind of leader who could lead us in a new direction and instead we got a traditional liberal who has tried to govern from the far left.
We are center right country and don’t sustain our support for leftist governments.
Obama got ton’s of money in 2008. Enthusiasim for his same old, same old liberalism has evaporated and he is going to have a tough time raising money in 2012. NOW the lefties will decide there is too much money in politics. Snicker, snicker.
Hillbilly D
June 26th, 2012
9:22 pm
md
They don’t factor into account that you can buy one quality product that lasts for several years, cheaper than you can by 6 or 8 cheap versions of the same product that don’t last. That kind of foresight just isn’t geared to today’s instant gratification society.
md
June 26th, 2012
9:24 pm
“You have to either let those low wage jobs go to the low wage countries, or shut the door and turn isolationist.”
OR make the choice to buy some higher priced goods knowing they are related to providing jobs here……..cheaper doesn’t always equate to better………
But my point is that it is a choice……we choose our own wages through our own buying habits……
md
June 26th, 2012
9:27 pm
HD…..and I concur……I buy both, depending on the product.
And Lil’B, I’m not against trade…..I’m against a trade imbalance…….
Uncle Billy
June 26th, 2012
9:29 pm
To quote David Hume, “causation is not an observation, it is a conclusion.”
Now I see why Tiberius, dead for almost 2000 years, has come back. Whenever his name appears everyone else begins to get off. This explains with Bookman has so many more commenters than Kyle.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
June 26th, 2012
9:30 pm
“Plutocrats and Oligarchies” – the new admission that the people who post this stuff really need to get out of their grandparent’s basement.
Hillbilly D
June 26th, 2012
9:31 pm
md
The way I look at it, we have a choice. We can pay more for products or we can pay taxes for unemployment and other social programs. I’d just as soon pay more for products and if I can’t afford something, I’ll do without.
Uncle Billy
Jay Bookman once got 2000 posts with a picture of a fish.
@@
June 26th, 2012
9:31 pm
…why Mitch Daniels has chosen to leave politics to become president of Purdue
Probably because his wife told him to.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
June 26th, 2012
9:31 pm
“Whenever his name appears everyone else begins to get off.”
Why do you need to lie in order to get yourself noticed, Uncle Billy?
Is it because you have nothing of value to add to the conversation?
Or is it just that you are incapable of telling the truth?
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
June 26th, 2012
9:33 pm
“This explains with Bookman has so many more commenters than Kyle.”
No, welfare and food stamps explains Bookman’s bunch. When you don’t have to work and you can live off the government teat, you have much more time to blog at your local library.
Hillbilly D
June 26th, 2012
9:40 pm
@@
I see y’all got a Corvette police car in your neck of the woods.
Oh how they talk after being KICKED off
June 26th, 2012
10:17 pm
Big talk for someone who couldn’t post enough over at Bookmans’s……. that is until his mouth overloaded his a$$ and he was banned
hahahahahahhaa
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
June 26th, 2012
10:23 pm
So Romney will take a stand on SOMETHING tomorrow? ANYTHING??
I thought you needed to have a pair to be President. I guessing Hillary has bigger cojones than Romney.
Take a stand, man! Take a stand!
yuzeyurbrane
June 26th, 2012
10:37 pm
1961Xer–the drug companies discounted the doughnut hole prices they had previously been charging as their end of the deal in supporting healthcare reform. You have to learn to think outside the box. The correct answer therefore does not fit into either one of your pigeonholes for possible answers. I guess you will next moan for the poor suffering drug companies.
HARDWORKIN'GAL
June 27th, 2012
4:59 am
Bimbo Bill said it best: “IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID!”
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 27th, 2012
6:13 am
Anybody else notice how the libs are treating the menial drop in gas prices as though it’s the second coming of Reaganomics?
They don’t have very much to toot their horns over, do they?