Politics and Money
Does it always boil down to money? Seems to as far as politics are concerned.
The Washington Post reports today that Hillary Clinton’s campaign is being outspent by Barack Obama’s by as much as six to one in some cases.
It seems that Obama’s campaign has been raking in the contributions at better than twice the rate that Clinton’s camp has. The amount of money spent and number of ads run in Pennsylvania alone don’t make the easy win that Hillary was anticipating look so easy, or even probable. We will see on April 22nd just how effective the Obama camp spending has been. What once looked like a runaway primary for Clinton will teach us all lessons on whether money talks or not. So far, reports show that Obama has outmatched Clinton campaign expenditures by a four-to-one ratio.
In North Carolina, with it’s May 6th primary, Obama’s camp has been using their surplus to open offices around the state, even in small towns. In addition to saturating the market with ads (almost always a smart move) they have been setting up voter registration centers across the state. Formerly unregistered voters will undoubtedly endorse which ever candidate activates them.
And, of course, even with the precision of planning done by the Clinton campaign before the contest actually opened, Obama’s campaign continues to almost effortlessly gather momentum. He has had a war chest that keeps growing by leaps and bounds, while Hillary’s group has been scrambling to keep fundraisers going and get the needed funds.
To prevent doomsayers from writing Hillary off completely, however, aides point to the fact that she won in Ohio and Texas even though she was unable to compete in spending with Obama.
Today, according to the media, Clinton’s fundraisers are exhausted with the unprecedented demands that this historic campaign is requiring.
But, since Hillary and John McCain are old friends (they said it, I didn’t) perhaps he can tell her some of his secrets for winning a nomination without spending the big bucks spent by his number #1 competitor. Even Mike Huckabee hung in there with no money much longer than anyone expected.
Well, if there’s anything we’ve learned in this most unusual presidential primary contest, it’s that only time will tell. Will there be a brokered convention? It’s still two and a half weeks until the Pennsylvania primaries and no one knows what will happen between now and then.
Tags: Barack Obama, brokered convention, Democratic National Convention, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, North Carolina primary, Ohio primary, Pennsylvania primary, Politics, Presidential primary, Texas primary, Washington PostLeave a Reply
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