October 16, 2007

McCain Reports More Money Woes In 3Q

The third-quarter money race is coming into focus this week, as yesterday marked the deadline for candidates to file their official fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission. The national front-runners on both sides of the aisle -- Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rudy Giuliani -- pulled ahead of their closest rivals in the money race, adding fuel to their growing leads and fresh hurdles for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, who have been stagnating in the polls.

But for at least one candidate, the correspondence between campaign momentum and cash flow isn't quite as clear-cut.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has experienced something of a renaissance on the trail after a dismal second-quarter showing and a major campaign shakeup, is reporting $3.4 million cash on hand, $1.8 million of which is set aside for the general election. Factoring in his $1.7 million in reported debt, Marc Ambinder helpfully does the math: "That means that McCain's campaign has no cash on hand -- in fact, even with the general election money factored in, it owes about $94,000. It is, in other words, bankrupt."

According to AP, Team McCain spent $1.8 million in the third quarter and pulled in $5.7 million in contributions. Following the massive layoffs and scaling down this summer, the campaign's third-quarter spending reflects only a small fraction of the $21.2 million it has spent since the Arizona senator jumped into the race last November.

But the cutbacks do not appear to have helped bring McCain out of the red, and the campaign raised "less than half the amount in contributions in the third quarter than it did in the second," AP notes. The campaign's biggest expenditure was probably the TV and radio ad buy it purchased in New Hampshire last month to capitalize on encouraging poll numbers there after the senator's prominent role in September's war debates on Capitol Hill.

The bad news from McCain's third-quarter filing could force him to accept public financing for his campaign, and the restrictions that come with it. It's already forcing some commentators to revisit their previous predictions that the McCain campaign is dead in the water. But remember, when things looked particularly bleak this summer, McCain told reporters the only thing that would keep him from soldiering on was "contracting a fatal disease."

Other notable revelations on the Republican side: Romney is still the highest roller, having spent more than twice the amount he raised in the third quarter (leaving the Boston Globe to wonder how long he can keep this up). Fred Thompson appears to have held his own in his first quarter as a declared candidate. Mike Huckabee, who's experiencing a modest surge in national and state polls, had his best fundraising quarter to date but still lags far behind the top of the ticket with just over $651,000 on hand. And, yes, Ron Paul ranks fourth among the field for cash on hand with $5.4 million.

On the Democratic side, the candidates are reporting nearly three times as much money as their Republican counterparts. Clinton led the pack in third-quarter fundraising ($27.3 million) and tied Obama for spending ($21.3 million). John Edwards, who has opted for public financing, is eligible for at least $10 million in federal matching funds, as he reports about that much in cash on hand for the primary.

The Caucus, First Read and The Trail have more on how candidates raised and spent money during the summer months.

Posted at 3:21 PM
Posted to: Barack Obama, Campaigns, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, WH 2008
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