mo' money, mo' problems

(Image by Demtri Martin)

As of December 31, 2007, Hillary Clinton had raised over $118M, but had spent about $80M....Barack Obama during the same period raised about $104M and spent $85M. We won't know the Q1 numbers for 2008 for a while, but we do know that Sen. Obama raised $32M in January while Sen. Clinton raised $13.5M during that same period. And given how expensive it was to run 21 simultanious campaigns, many in huge media markets it seems her money is all spent.

her campaign has just confirmed that she’d already lent her coffers $5 million of her own money in late January.
...
Her advisers says she’s considering another loan because money is tight now.

With that, she sent out an email asking her supporters to give $3M in 3 days on the heals of her wins in CA, NY, NJ, etc. Both the Clintons and the Obama are very recently rich...and both made their money off book royalties on books they wrote (or got noticed) in the 2000s. Of course, Bill also used to get paid hundreds of thousands to make a speech somewhere.

It seems though that Hillary is in dire financial straights, despite having more money to spend going into 2008 than Barack did.

John McCain is is a similarly tight money struggle, but his troubles are more complex and entangled. He raised $42M in 2007, but spent $39M and has something like $4M in debts, which were secured via a loan on his fundraising list, a life insurance policy (because he is 71 years old), but not the $5.8M he is to theorically recieve in March from the FEC. The trouble is, he doesn't want those matching funds any more. Why not? Because campaigns that accept public financing can only spend $52M overall in the primaries, which has might have already passed. The trouble for him is, the FEC doesn't have a quorum to run on is request to withdraw from public financing in the primaries and the limitations that come with it. Why doesn't the FEC have a quorum, Sen. Min. Leader Mitch McConnell demanded a vote on all 4 nominees in a block because one of the nominees is controversal--and blocked by Sen. Obama. Sen. McConnell--an avid oponent of McCain-Feingold--is pleased by the incapacitation of the FEC.

There is some debate whether he can get out of the system once he asked for money. ex-Commissioner Michael Toner thinks yes, but most election law experts think it will be a close call. Plus, there is the appearance problem of having the most famous advocate of campaign finance reform seaking to weazle out of system he helped create. To be fair, McCain has advocated for higher spending limits to make a public funding system more viable. But the trouble is, that critical distinction might get lost in the coverage/perception.

All of which has got the Sens. McCain and Clinton singing:

I don't know what, they want from me
It's like the more money we come across
The more problems we see

Rest In Peace Biggie Smalls