Waiting On March Money

Today, we won't find out how much Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. John McCain, or Sen. Hillary Clinton raised in March.

The three campaigns will not be released their numbers today.

The buzz has Obama raising around $40M -- wholly unsubstantiated. The Obama team will not give me a ballpark figure. Obama has four fundraisers in Northern California on Sunday; two of them were sold out weeks in advance.

And rumors of the demise of the Clinton fundraising machine appear to be false: she's going to pull in at least $20M, according to folks with some sense of the numbers. (The Clinton campaign has no official comment either.)

McCain's March total will exceed the $12.5M he raised in February, according to Republicans with knowledge of his finances.

Comments

Two things to look for in HRC's numbers:

1) How much of the funds raised are for the general election vs. the primary season.

2) How much was spent in March/ how much debt is outstanding/ how much cash on hand.

Posted by Alexis | April 1, 2008 1:03 PM

you cant trust the clintons numbers.

they said they raised like 30 million in february when they turned out to only raise about half of that.

i'm just saying, the clintons math can get pretty creative...so don't trust their numbers. or anything else coming out of their campaign.

Posted by freaktown | April 1, 2008 1:04 PM

Just because Hillary got $20 million, doesn't mean she's ok financially. She was supposedly getting like $1 million a day at the beginning of the month...she was probably "top heavy" in donations as far as the calendar goes, and that slowed toward the end of the month as the polls dipped. If she didn't anticipate that dip, and kept spending money like she had more coming in, then it would explain why she can't afford to pay her bills, and why she would need the free advertising that the Tonight Show brings her.

Posted by Craig | April 1, 2008 1:05 PM

The saddest are those who are still giving, to Hillary. None of that capital will be used to win the Nomination. Instead, it will be used to pay campaign debt. Huge, mounting campaign debt.

My brother-in-law put it best: "I have stopped giving to her because it's clear she can't win. And I figure, at this point, she should pay back debts out of her own pocket. After seeing how they spent (my) money so far, why should I pay off her debts?"

(BTW, my brother-in-law intends to get behind an effort to elect her as Governor of NY if that's the next move).

Meanwhile, imo, I actually think there's a chance Obama fights her to a draw in PA. He might even beat her in PA by a half a percentage point. Funny.

Posted by Gregor | April 1, 2008 1:07 PM

All the Clintons have to do to raise a lot of money is to bring Monica back to do dog and pony shows with them.

Posted by D | April 1, 2008 1:08 PM

Well, given last month more than half of the money raised was for the general only and they came out of it at least $2 million in debt, we can guess at least half of the money again will be for the general only. So at best she's probably raised $12 million. Which means she'll have $10 million cash on hand, ASSUMING SHE SPENT ZERO DOLLARS IN MARCH.

Posted by Seth | April 1, 2008 1:10 PM

Clinton did raise as much money as Obama because she's a fighter. And she has failed to pay her debts because the "Boys Club" is pushing her to get out. And she can't pay the health insurance for her employees because people are wrapped up in the idea of a black guy running for president.

Posted by Craig | April 1, 2008 1:17 PM

Clinton didn't raise as much money as Obama because she's a fighter. And she has failed to pay her debts because the "Boys Club" is pushing her to get out. And she can't pay the health insurance for her employees because people are wrapped up in the idea of a black guy running for president.

Posted by Craig | April 1, 2008 1:17 PM

Wow!

What intrepid reporting by Mr. Ambinder for his "reported blog."

When not shilling for Hillary, apparently Mr. Ambinder has absolutely nothing else to say.

Fire. Ambinder. Now.

Posted by Eric Blair | April 1, 2008 1:18 PM

I echo Alexis--that "fabulous" month of $35 million, $21.5 million was from maxed out donors and couldn't be used. That's almost 2/3. If the new total is $20 million, of which most again can't be used to pay the event coordinators of Ohio and cleaning services of NH, that should be news.

Posted by Deborah | April 1, 2008 1:20 PM

Ummm, Marc? $40M = $20M x 2.

Posted by horizonr | April 1, 2008 1:45 PM

Ummm, Marc? $40M = $20M x 2.

You're leaving out an important part of Marc's equation, which I'm sure is something like this:

$20m x the unadulterated awesomeness of Hillary = Infinity.

Posted by J.B. | April 1, 2008 2:00 PM

“Why do I have to keep proving to people that I am not a liar?!” -Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2000

And, Hillary Clinton pays all of her bills ... just goes to show, you can say almost anything. Hillary will continue to lie, but thank goodness for that. “Chill out” and let this woman lie. She's going to get caught; just you wait and see: http://theseedsof9-11.com

Posted by Peggy McGilligan | April 1, 2008 3:26 PM

I wonder if the finances of the two campaigns weighs on any of the superdelegates... they've gotta have dollar signs in their eyes when they think about Obama running.

Posted by socctty | April 1, 2008 3:38 PM

Hillary has spent over $100,000,000 of other
peoples' money on the likes of Penn, fancy
hotels, Dunkin Donuts, Chelsea's and Bill's
frenetic campaigning, impotent TV ads, etc.
She even "lent" herself $5,000,000 during
a lean spell. At this point, she's no better
than an also-ran. Keep sending in your hard
earned bucks to keep this bucket afloat! P.T.
Barnum was a genius.

Posted by hombre | April 1, 2008 4:38 PM

We contribute to Hillary strongly, because she is the most qualified candidate, a superior candidate with multifaceted expertise and knowledge. This is the CORE democrats who are voting for her, the party should not forgets its roots.

Hillary 08! :)

Posted by Meg | April 1, 2008 6:21 PM

We contribute to Hillary strongly, because she is the most qualified candidate, a superior candidate with multifaceted expertise and knowledge. This is the CORE democrats who are voting for her, the party should not forgets its roots.

Hillary 08! :)

Posted by Meg | April 1, 2008 6:21 PM

We contribute to Hillary strongly, because she is the most qualified candidate, a superior candidate with multifaceted expertise and knowledge. This is the CORE democrats who are voting for her, the party should not forgets its roots.

Hillary 08! :)

Posted by Meg | April 1, 2008 6:21 PM

There is really no problem raising money at all.

Hillbilly's staff can get themselves hired out at $4,500 per hour and Eliot Spitzer can use them.

Or she can go back to trading commodities like she use to and make millions in a few weeks.

Or she can set up a preparatory committee to explore a 2012 run for President and solicit contributions.

What about setting up an import business to help free trade in agricultural products and medicines from Canada, Mexico, and Columbia? That should make lots of money.

Posted by D | April 1, 2008 6:28 PM

Politics makes whores of everyone involved.
It's just that Hillary is overpriced.

Posted by interferon | April 1, 2008 7:03 PM

This is really good news. So long Hiliar.

Posted by Carter | April 2, 2008 3:56 AM

Obama raised around $30 million, not $40 million...

Hillary is close to Obama's total b/c she averaged rougly $1 million per day!!

Looks like the Jeremiah Wright stuff had an effect

Posted by Jack | April 2, 2008 8:51 AM

Obama raised around $30 million, not $40 million...

Hillary is close to Obama's total b/c she averaged rougly $1 million per day!!

Looks like the Jeremiah Wright stuff had an effect

Posted by Jack | April 2, 2008 8:51 AM
-------------------------------------------
How can anyone make such a judgement and not have the real numbers? This is what has been happening since the beginning of these primaries. I think the Wright story and the Bosnia story has had a effect on both these campaigns.

I suspect that both campaigns will feel the effect of the economy as everyone else is feeling it, unless they have very big money folks on their side.

It should be noted that we do not know everything without the evidence and factual numbers.

My bet is that Obama made more than 40 million this month and not sure about Hillary. But I am willing to wait for the numbers until I get the facts, not the spin that most of us base our decisions on.

Posted by Angelene | April 2, 2008 4:09 PM