McCain's Got More Money Than Obama, Really?

Or so he says.  But we all know he's got a loose relationship with the truth.

Carly Fiorina, an adviser to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, said:

"At the end of the April, John McCain had cash on hand of over $60 million, and Sen. Obama had cash on hand of over $50 million

That would be troublesome except McCain didn't have $60 million dollars, no where close to it.

The Hill

Fiorina added the money that the Republican National Committee has in the bank to McCain’s total.

In fact, Obama had $46 million in the bank at the end of April, more than twice the amount of McCain’s cash reserves.

While McCain is raising far less money than Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), he is also not forced to spend as much money, because he has clinched the GOP nomination. Obama has spent over $100 million through the first four months of the year, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

She added that:

"When you're putting together these huge rallies, these very well-orchestrated events, the amount of ad time that the Obama campaign is buying, that takes a lot of money."

And she also claimed in the interview that, the RNC's money is really McCain's, because he had access to that money.

All of this pissed me off, so I sent Obama $25, how many people will join me?

•  Tips?

  by Snickers77 on Tue May 27, 2008 at 06:20:39 PM PDT

•  This is more or less true, sadly

  This long primary has starved the DNC of funds. They are basically running on empty. :( And yes, the RNC combined with Mccain's funds equals more than the DNC and Obama's funds. I think that is a distinction without a difference since both are doing funding the same thing.

  by jenontheshore on Tue May 27, 2008 at 06:22:37 PM PDT

  •  Not true.

    If you look at annual totals of the DNC and the RNC, the DNC has traditionally run damn near in the red. They are awful at raising funds, unlike the DCCC and the DSCC.

    Kos addressed this a couple of times on the front page. The DNC can't blame the primary for lack of funds. They can only blame themselves.

    by Pager on Tue May 27, 2008 at 06:27:32 PM PDT

•  Never Fear

  McCain has Carly Fiorina as his campaign financial advisor.  This is the woman who ruined Hewlitt-Packard within 2 years of being named CEO.  

  There's still plenty of time for her to similarly mismanage this campaign.

  by sistermoon on Tue May 27, 2008 at 06:26:15 PM PDT

  •  Aww, you don't give McCain enough credit!

    He already managed to run his campaign into the ground once, and then only avoided doing it a second time by breaking the law. I'm sure that he could manage to fail again before November, even without her help!

    by SciVo on Tue May 27, 2008 at 07:09:31 PM PDT

•  Sounds

  like the same old bs to me. They just seem to have a real problem with truth and reality.

  In the end, the truth will be known, as it always is, and Mr. McCain and his little party will be shown to be the Mr. Dole and company of the early part of the new century.

  by RustyBrown on Tue May 27, 2008 at 06:27:05 PM PDT

•  Won't help - he's going down

  by NewDealer on Tue May 27, 2008 at 06:28:33 PM PDT

•  If the RNC puts all their money into the

  presidential race, they have nothing for the Senate and House races and the Republican Senate and House campaign committees are really hurting for money.

  by yellowdog on Tue May 27, 2008 at 06:33:07 PM PDT

  •  There's a quote from when I first saw this story

    Where the Republican essentially said that they were throwing all their eggs into this basket. And it makes sense to do so. They're not going to win control of either Hall of Congress, they need to win the presidency to keep from being totally shut out.

    by kafkaesque on Tue May 27, 2008 at 07:03:33 PM PDT

  •  I don't think they can do that

    My understanding is that the national committees can only spend on the presidential election, not the legislative races.

    by slothlax on Tue May 27, 2008 at 07:48:24 PM PDT

•  Not a Problem

  You notice that McCain isn't talking about Obama's so-called promise to accept public financing for the general election.  McCain must have figured out that he isn't getting any votes complaining about that since he's dropped it.

  Mixing in the RNC's money with McCain's is great to keep the public financing issue off the table, because it would make any suggestion by McCain that he would accept the limits of public financing just for the McCain campaign while also spending RNC money on top of that just another example of trying to game the system.

  by Tod on Tue May 27, 2008 at 06:34:14 PM PDT

•  What is good is that the RNC

  needs to spend a fair bit of cash trying to circle the wagons this election cycle.  The redest of red states are turning blue in the Congressional and Senate races.

  by kanuk on Tue May 27, 2008 at 06:35:34 PM PDT

•  I think the point is

  We ALL need to be prepared to give until it hurts.

  My own approach is monthly, unless prompted to do so in between.

  Like now.  $25 on my credit card, in 3, 2, 1 Bingo!

  by nsfbr on Tue May 27, 2008 at 06:35:41 PM PDT

•  His wife certainly does!

  How much of it do you think she'll loan to his campaign?

  At least she can provide free beer to his campaign workers -- they're going to need lots of it.

  by liberaldregs on Tue May 27, 2008 at 06:36:45 PM PDT

  •  Similar To Theresa Hines Kerry. So We Can't

    complain.  

    I'm counting on the small donor base that Barack has established as a sustaining source of funds.

    However it is hard to keep up with the Republicans.  George Bush and the congress have given such a hefty tax break to wealthy individuals that those individuals have plenty of money to buy the election.  

    by kerplunk on Tue May 27, 2008 at 07:20:19 PM PDT

•  That's actually pretty funny

  that they are including RNC money in that total. Fiorina doing the corporate accounting thing!

  These Republicans just lie without skipping a beat!

  by Jennifer Clare on Tue May 27, 2008 at 06:44:24 PM PDT

•  Now you know why Fiorina got the boot from HP

  Almost drove that company out of business. New CEO has turned it around.

  by organicdemocrat on Tue May 27, 2008 at 07:14:59 PM PDT

•  How long before Obama outraises RNC?

  Seriously, with their big-donor fundraising base they're bound to run out of donors eventually right? I mean I don't mean to imply here that I expect Republicans not to break the law, because that's really expecting too much. But theoretically? Consider that while Obama beat Clinton in fundraising, she was also shattering records for primary fundraising and those donors can now give the maximum to his campaign as well. Minus the lobbyists obviously. But how long until Obama outraises both McCain and RNC? I'm sure they will also fix the impotent fundraising efforts of the DNC when Obama takes control of the DNC at the end of the nomination process.

  by oohdoiloveyou on Tue May 27, 2008 at 07:22:39 PM PDT

•  I made another

  donation earlier this afternoon. And I'll keep making them every week.

  BTW - I have never donated to a political campaign in my life. That tells you how strongly I feel about Senator Obama's honesty, integrity and core values.

  by Proud Mom and Grandma on Tue May 27, 2008 at 09:04:41 PM PDT