Campaing money numbers, McCain's economic platforms, and Obama's fundraising efforts
Today was a good news day for McCain.
First, McCain's camp released their June money numbers today, and the numbers look very positive for McCain's team. They raised yet another personal high for McCain of $22 million, continuing the upward progression he has had every single month. McCain has $26.7 million cash on hand now, and the RNC is up to $67.8 million, the GOP State Victory funds have an additional $8 million, putting the GOP cash numbers into 9 digits at just over $100 million or so. Assuming McCain continues his current fundraising pace until the convention, he will now be able to spend more than double the amount he has been averaging on a daily basis for ad buys and campaign get out the vote infrastructure. At the same time, he has inched closer to Obama in the polls than he has at any point since Clinton's concession speech over a month ago.
Obama's team has not yet released their June numbers (which are not due for another week and a half) but their campaign has issued statements that fundraising has been slow, perhaps to prepare supporters/media for perhaps a disappointing number. While McCain's fundraising has steadily inched upwards each month, Obama's has gone down every month since February. If that continued in June, then June will be the first month in which McCain outraised Obama. Obama has also been spending well over a million dollars every day from his campaign chest, and (perhaps due in part to the Obama's campaign appeal for Democratic donors to give directly to the campaign rather than to many different sources) the DNC has crawled along at a snail's pace in fundraising, lagging far behind the RNC. Obama has continued his recent strategy of focusing solely on big money donors, holding high priced events exclusive to donors giving the maximum amount allowed by law. Yesterday, he raised $4.1 million in a single event in Manhattan with Clinton's help. Obama then got himself into trouble as at the unity event in which he was supposed to ask his own supporters to return the favor and help Clinton retire her debt, forgot to ask his supporters to donate to Clinton until someone reminded him after the speech was over. Each such event is further distancing himself from even the pretense that he is utilizing the "parallel public financing system" that would be "free from the taint of special interests" that he cited as a justification for reneging on his pledge to accept public financing. Here is the video clip:
McCain campaigned in Ohio where he received a standing ovation from a town hall of 500 when promoting a values message calling for greater respect for the rights of the unborn. McCain also spent considerable time touting his economic credentials and platforms, including several highlights:
1. A pledge to balance the budget in 4 years
2. A focus and priority in his administration to create jobs for Americans
3. A "jobs coalition" of small business owners supporting McCain across 19 states
4. Endorsements from 300 reputable economists on his economic plan.
Details on his economic plan can be found on his web site - www.johnmccain.com if you are interested.
Obama meanwhile campaigned in Virginia today, possibly a swing state this year with its 13 electoral votes. Obama drew further fire today on several fronts:
1. German Chancellor Merkel said she was "skeptical" about the appropriateness of a planned Obama campaign event in Germany, and even further skeptical about the location being in front of the Brandenburg gate due to its historical symbolism. That was the site where Reagan said "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" - the event which precursored the fall of the Berlin wall and the fall of the communist empire.
2. Obama's recent statement to the Iran missile firings noted that he takes the Iranian threat very seriously, which leads to position Change #30 (see earlier posts for other 29), reversing his earlier statements that consistently dismissed Iran as a country which did not "pose any serious threat" to American security or American interests.
3. Obama's statements in favor of faith based initiatives receiving government funding is Change #31 as it constitutes a complete reversal from his primaries stance that such programs violated the separation of Church and state.
4. Obama was criticized by a Hispanic advocacy group as having exaggerated his role on immigration reform during his criticism of McCain's record on the topic. It was noted that Obama did not attend a single committee meeting on immigration reform and contended that he was "AWOL" and an "absolute non-player" in achieving anything on immigration reform, thus, it was improper for him to claim ownership and credit. This criticism echoes that of fellow Democrats from the Illinois state legislature from early in the primary season that Obama was a "bill-jacker" who would co-sponsor bills and bipartisan efforts after others had completed or nearly completed all the hard work necessary to bring a bill to pass.
