While Hillary Clinton raised $21M in 3/08, her camp "continues to struggle with a cash squeeze as her unpaid bills mount and she spends more money than she is taking in." The Clinton camp has a $10.3M unpaid debt, and its "biggest obligations" are owed to "members of her inner circle."
•$4.5M is owed to the polling firm of Mark Penn.
•Media adviser Mandy Grunwald is owed $528K.
•Harold Ickes' firm Catalist is owed $240K "for providing voter files."
•DC mail firm MSHC is owed $956K
•Amb. Joseph C. Wilson IV is owed $1.5K in "travel expenses."
•At the end of 3/08, Clinton had a $800K "shortfall."
Speaking about Clinton's debt, campaign finance lawyer Ken Gross said: "Ten million dollars is a big number standing alone. We've not seen a lot of numbers of that magnitude. As a percentage of the total amount she has raised, it is not huge. But we are not used to seeing eight-figure debt in a campaign."
On the other hand, Barack Obama raised $42M in 3/08, has $43M CoH for the primaries and a camp debt of "less than" $660K. Obama is spending 75 cents of every dollar "he is taking in," whereas Clinton is spending $1.10 (Wayne, New York Times, 4/22).
More Money
Obama reported to the FEC 4/20 that he had $42M available at the end of 3/08 "to spend on the primaries." Clinton's filing showed she had only $8M "in the bank" and debts of $10.3M "to outside vendors." Clinton spokesperson Howard Wolfson: "We'll be honoring our debts in the weeks and months to come ... no matter who they are to."
Clinton aides "are portraying the lack of funds as an opportunity to paint" Clinton as :an underdog who can continue to pull off strong showings even without deep pockets." Spokesperson Mo Elleithee: "Obama is trying to spend his way to the nomination. When you're spending as much as he is in state after state and failing to win, it raises a big question about why he can't close the deal."
Obama spokesperson Tommy Vietor responded: "Despite being the most well-known politician in the nation, Senator Clinton has spent at least $173 million in this campaign and still trails Senator Obama in states won, pledged delegates, and the popular vote" (Jacoby/Chozick/Timiraos, Wall Street Journal, 4/22).
I Don't Need Your Money
People are beginning to ask if Obama is "even trying to raise money from his fellow members of Congress?" It's come up because of Obama's latest fundraising report, which "showed he raised nearly" $43M in 3/08 alone. However, "a grand total of zero dollars and zero cents" came from his fellow Dems in Congress. Obama has now raised just $10K "for the entire cycle from congressional incumbents and candidates," or roughly 0.00004% of the $240M he's raised overall. Contrast that with Clinton, who has raised $107K "this cycle from other candidates and incumbents."
But Clinton "hasn't exactly been raking it in from colleagues lately either" -- in the first three months of '08, Clinton got just over $15K from the re-election accounts of eight Dems in Congress. But "it's still a lot more than Obama's ever raised from that constituency, even though they both have roughly the same number of lawmaker endorsements." Still, Obama "seems to be doing just fine without them" (Pershing, "Capitol Briefing," WashingtonPost.com, 4/21).
So-o Not Going To Happen
New York Times' Healy reports, Clinton and Obama "want to be done with each other, starting now," and are unlikely to form a "so-called dream ticket." Why? Bill Clinton, for one, "bitterly believes that the Obama camp has portrayed him as a brutish, race-baiting campaigner." Whereas Obama aides assert that "Clinton's baggage would damage" Obama's image "in a New York minute." MD Dem Chair Michael Cryor: "The idea is convenient, but I don't know if it addresses what the party needs" (4/22).
Adding his voice to the chorus of nays is DCCC head Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD 08). Speaking at the a recent Christian Science Monitor breakfast in DC, Van Hollen told reporters: "I don't think that's going to happen." While party unity is a concern, Van Hollen "said that putting the loser from the nomination race into the VP slot wouldn't be necessary to achieve unity" (West, "The Swamp," Chicago Tribune, 4/21).
Obama Is Going To Win
Dem Terry Michael writes in the Washington Times, a rush toward Obama "will get underway in the early morning hours" of 4/23, "before we elitist" Dems grab "our caramel macchiattos at Starbucks." By the time "we reach Whole Foods in the late afternoon of the day after, and before we can put those French lentils with baby carrots into the microwave, the march of super delegates toward ObamaLand will be viewable on our 47-inch flat panel displays, presented by the best political teams in the cable babbling cosmos."
The "mathematical impossibility" for Clinton "to be victorious in popular votes, pledged delegates or states has been repeated ad nauseum." It is "over." Dems are "not going to thumb its nose at history and deny the nomination to a black candidate in favor of a woman with" Clinton's "baggage" (4/22).
It Won't Take Till August
Dem Chair Howard Dean "insisted" in an interview with Wall Street Journal's Kronholz that it is "hysterical" to suggest that the Obama-Clinton primary fight "could add up to a convention nightmare." Dean "said a clear winner will emerge by the end of" 5/08, after the "primaries have ended and as the remaining uncommitted superdelegates choose sides. Then, Dean said: "I expect either one of these candidates to stand up next to the other and say 'I'm supporting this person.'" Whether that candidate's supporters "feel they've been robbed is going to depend on what the candidate has to say about it" (4/22).
Cancel That Vacation
Policy differences between Obama and Clinton "emerged" 4/21, with Obama saying he's against "a proposed gas tax holiday" and Clinton saying she's "in favor." Clinton voiced her support on CNN's Larry King Live 4/21 p.m., while Obama "rejected the tax holiday as bad economic policy" during a speech at a college in the Philly suburbs. Obama: "We're talking about 5 percent of your total cost of gas that you suspend for three months, which might save you a few hundred bucks that then will spike right up." More: "Now keep in mind that it will save you that if Exxon Mobil doesn't decide, 'We'll just tack on another 5 percent on the current cost'" (Timiraos, "Washington Wire," Wall Street Journal, 4/21).
Old People Rule
"Age is likely to play a particularly strong role in" PA primary voting. The "outmigration of young people has left the state with the second-highest proportion of people over 65 in the country," after FL -- 58% of registered Dems are older than 45. Exit polling so far has shown: 57% of voters 65 and older have supported Clinton and 36% have supported Obama. Of voters age 30 and younger, 59% have supported Obama and 38% have supported Clinton.
Neither camp "likes to say that it appeals chiefly to a particular age group." Clinton adviser Nick Clemons: "We.re not conceding any demographic." On the other hand, "they cannot ignore the obvious, or the reliable cushion that it provides" (Seelye, New York Times, 4/22).
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