Fundraising Bottom Line: McCain Can Relax, Obama Has Some Work To Do, But It Will Pay Off
16 Aug 2008 02:35 pm
Obama + the DNC
Raised: 78.7 M (27.7 dnc + 51 Obama)
Cash On Hand: 94.3M (28.5 dnc + 65.8 Obama)RNC+McCain
Raised: 53M (26 rnc + 27 Mccain)
Cash On Hand: 96M (75 rnc + 21 mccain)Estimating here, Obama has an additional reserve of about $20 million stored up for the general election. Assuming he spends half of his kitty this month, he'll have around $50m on hand as of August 29. On September 4, McCain get a check from the public till for about $84 million. Assuming he's raised around $15 million this month, he'll be able to spend around $35 million between now and his convention.
It will be be fairly easy for Obama to dramatically increase his totals, assuming that he can rely on his early maxed out primary donors for an immediate primary infusion.
But Obama's $51m last month reflects generosity AND hard work; he spent an inordinate amount of time at fundraisers. After the convention, Obama will be campaigning full-time and won't be able to lend his personal charisma to private fundraisers.
Bottom line to this bottom line: both candidates and both parties will be well-funded, although, if things go right for him, Obama will have a fairly massive cushion.
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/fundraising_bottom_line_mccain.php