I Love The Smell Of Vindication In The Evening — It Smells Like Victory
[Posted by WLS]
That is, if vindication had any smell.
Read it and weep, doubters — Team Obama is in a panic over a fundraising shortfall.
A few nice nuggets:
Pushing a fund-raiser later this month, a finance staff member sent a sharply worded note last week to Illinois members of its national finance committee, calling their recent efforts “extremely anemic.”
The signs of concern have become evident in recent weeks as early fund-raising totals have suggested that Mr. Obama’s decision to bypass public financing may not necessarily afford him the commanding financing advantage over Senator John McCain that many had originally predicted.
Meanwhile, Obama campaign officials had calculated that with its vaunted fund-raising machine, driven by both small contributors over the Internet and a powerful high-dollar donor network, it made more sense to forgo public financing so they could raise and spend unlimited sums.
But the campaign is struggling to meet ambitious fund-raising goals it set for the campaign and the party. It collected in June and July far less from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s donors than originally projected. Moreover, Mr. McCain, unlike Mr. Obama, will have the luxury of concentrating almost entirely on campaigning instead of raising money, as Mr. Obama must do.
The Obama campaign set a goal in mid-June of raising $300 million for the campaign and about $150 million for the Democratic Party over four-and-a-half months, fund-raisers said. As of the end of July, however, the Obama campaign was well short of the $100 million a month pace it had set, taking in about $77 million between the campaign and the party that month.
It is not yet clear whether the Obama campaign will be able to ratchet up its fund-raising enough in the final two months of the campaign to make up the difference.
Even Mr. Obama’s fund-raisers in Illinois were admonished in an e-mail message last Thursday to step up their efforts to “show the other regions that his home state still has it.” The donors, who were also reminded they had each promised to collect $300,000 for the campaign, were asked to raise $25,000 each for an event on Sept. 22 at a Chicago museum.
The new state-by-state goals unveiled by campaign officials in Denver stunned at least some in the room and included sizable increases for at least some states, according to interviews with several Obama fund-raisers.
Campaign officials expect their Internet fund-raising engine to ramp up as the election approaches. And they hope that much of the high-dollar fund-raising can be done without Mr. Obama. In the New York area alone, there are some 18 events planned in September, all with surrogates, including Mrs. Clinton, Caroline Kennedy and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico.
But campaign officials conceded that Mr. Obama inevitably will have to make some appearances. On Friday night in New Jersey, Mr. Obama devoted five hours for two fund-raising events, including one at the home of the singer Jon Bon Jovi, in which the ticket was $30,800 a person. Mr. Obama is also scheduled to appear at back-to-back fund-raisers in Los Angeles on Sept. 16.
Not one piece of good news for Obama in the entire article.
— WLS
WLS,
I haven’t seen anyone else that hit this story as early, as hard and with as many details you did. Well Done.
DRJ (7568a2) — 9/8/2008 @ 7:50 pmSo … WLS … expecting a gnat to come buzzing around the thread anytime soon?
SPQR (26be8b) — 9/8/2008 @ 7:53 pmYou did an outstanding job of letting Pattericons know first that Obama’s campaign was headed for the financial shoals. That is truly far-sighted political reporting.
Bradley J. Fikes (0ea407) — 9/8/2008 @ 8:03 pmWell done, indeed!
When I read your earlier posts, I thought they seemed plausible, but I had doubts because I wondered why no one else was picking up on it if it were really the case.
jim2 (03b0ae) — 9/8/2008 @ 8:16 pmThis drives him back to the liberal Dem base to ask for more donations. Increases the likelihood that over the top comments meant to please the high rollers will occur and get leaked.
voiceofreason2 (ede1ee) — 9/8/2008 @ 8:17 pmWLS…
As Wagner would have wanted…but the question remains…”CAN CHARLIE SURF??? CAN WLS SURF???”
reff (b68a4f) — 9/8/2008 @ 8:37 pmWLS:
Readers at Patterico will be able to say:
“We heard it here first!!!”
Good job.
Bill M (5e9a70) — 9/8/2008 @ 8:41 pmOutstanding WLS!
Obama may have to ask to borrow Hillary’s Chinese waiter brigade if this keeps up.
daleyrocks (d9ec17) — 9/8/2008 @ 8:41 pmvor2,
The Eurotour, Hawaiian vacation and very clumsy lurch to the center have done irreparable (IMO) damage to his relationship with the simple minded lefty dolts who bought off on “Hope and Change” and started sending him a couple bongs worth of dough per month last November. And if that didn’t kill ’em off, picking Slojo for the VP slot did.
He’s in what’s known as a ‘flat spin’ and his engines have flamed out. He’s heading for ‘Lawn Dart of the Month’ territory.
Rick Ballard (14757e) — 9/8/2008 @ 8:43 pmI have much enjoyed your work on this, WLS…
Way to nail this story…
REALLY makes me want to take up the offer from the Obama camp to attned the “2-day camp” to learn how to campaign for Obama in neighboring states…
Scott Jacobs (d3a6ec) — 9/8/2008 @ 8:46 pmThis is Obama’s first real test-a campaign that is not meeting its funding targets just as he starts to sag in the polls. Will he panic? Will he find a way to get his mojo back? Or is this a death spiral?
MartyH (928d75) — 9/8/2008 @ 8:53 pmI think it’s important to point out that this is the first time Obama has ever run in an election against Republicans.
Steven Den Beste (99cfa1) — 9/8/2008 @ 9:08 pm#13. Steven Den Beste:
Ideally, it’ll will be an unsuccessful last time.
EW1(SG) (3f9181) — 9/8/2008 @ 9:18 pmWalMart was having a special on “l”s, so I picked up a few dozen.
EW1(SG) (3f9181) — 9/8/2008 @ 9:18 pmEW1(SG) hope you got your compliment earlier tonight…
reff (b68a4f) — 9/8/2008 @ 9:23 pmWhen the NYT is the first harbinger of doom for the Democratic candidate, things truly are at a difficult pass.
vnjagvet (d3d48a) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:22 pmIsn’t $30k way over the limit for contributions? What do they do with the excess? Is for Bon jovi’s habits?
Ray (8cfb7a) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:27 pmA little rough patch, really don’t get your collective republican knickers all in an excitable twist over this. Things will even out again and be just fine, but really thanks for the concern.
Hey since we’re linking to Huff Po, how about this ridiculous gaffe by Palin concerning Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae:
“You would like to think that someone who is going to be vice president and conceivable president would know what Fannie and Freddie do,” said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “These are huge institutions and they are absolutely central to our country’s mortgage debt. To not have a clue what they do doesn’t speak well for her, I’d say.”
No wonder they’re sequestering her from the press. From the sound of it they have their work cut out preparing her for the inevitable moment when she will have to speak and act like a viable nominee for vice president and not Tracy Flick leading a Wasilla Warriors High School football team pep rally.
Peter (e70d1c) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:37 pmThe excess goes to the Democratic National Committee, Ray. It is not deductable.
vnjagvet (d3d48a) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:48 pmRay — the price was a combination of what one person can contribute to Obama’s campaign, the DNC, and whatever joint fundraising committee they have established. There are different contribution levels for each, but I couldn’t tell you how much.
wls (969303) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:49 pmPatterico — where’s that link you mentioned?
wls (969303) — 9/8/2008 @ 10:57 pmJust wait and see. If he can’t raise enough money, he will suddenly become a big believer in public campaign financing again. Who wants to bet he won’t get it too?
peedoffamerican (389cf6) — 9/8/2008 @ 11:50 pmPeter, your latest tirade has already been debunked.
Icy Truth (a7ead4) — 9/9/2008 @ 12:28 amP’off — its his people talking to the NYT.
Who you going to believe?
wls (969303) — 9/9/2008 @ 1:31 amWLS –
Did I miss it or did the NYT article make no mention of the fact that Obama had originally promised that he would restrict himself to public financing if his oponent would?
jim2 (6482d8) — 9/9/2008 @ 6:31 amLittle Petey seems to think that repeating demonstrably false “facts” will somehow help make his rantings more credible. He seems to have a few fellow travelers here in that regard.
Dmac (e639cc) — 9/9/2008 @ 8:12 amSo…running his campaign is what qualifies him to be the President, as he said, right?
How’s that working out?
Is this the kind of financial savvy we can expect for the next four years (I say four because if it is it’s only going to be four)?
otcconan (8b7d8d) — 9/9/2008 @ 8:22 am