Money Woes Signal McCain Malaise

Poor Fundraising Is Only A Symptom Of Deeper Problems For Arizona Senator's Campaign

(The Politico) 
In addition to political recalculations, the operation is slashing costs after burning through what precious cash it has raised. Of the total $24 million McCain has raised since January, just $2 million remains in the bank, officials said yesterday.

Campaign officials justified the early spending by admitting they had made an "incorrect assumption" that they could raise $100 million for the primary by year's end. With that in mind, they'd begun building an operation that would cost that much.

Now, campaign manager Terry Nelson has volunteered to forgo a paycheck for a time, and other top advisers are taking pay cuts. All departmental budgets were cut.

The financial situation is so dire that the campaign is considering accepting federal matching money. The money garnered from a voluntary check-off on April tax returns is doled out to candidates based on the number of donors and the amounts they gave. McCain's advisers figure he already could see an infusion of $6 million from the taxpayer fund.

But there are great risks in taking the money. In exchange for it, a candidate has to agree to spending caps in primary states, and no other major candidate for either party has agreed to do that. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the Republican Party's leading presidential fundraiser, has used his ample campaign coffers to spend millions of dollars on television ads to boost his profile and polling numbers in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Romney now leads in New Hampshire, earning 26 percent of Republicans' support. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani follows with 22 percent, and McCain ties with former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson at 13 percent, according to a poll of likely New Hampshire primary voters by Suffolk University for WHDH-TV administered in late June.

Should he win the nomination, McCain could run out of primary cash months before a summer convention and would then be vulnerable to a spring onslaught of attack ads by a likely better funded Democrat who had stayed outside of the government funding program. Democratic contender Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is expected to report second-quarter donations exceeding $30 million and New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign says its figure will approach $30 million.

Beyond raising money, McCain now must play a tricky expectations game as fundraisers and key activists troll the crowded field looking for the winner.

McCain has lost only slight ground in national polls, though he's slowly hemorrhaging support as Thompson considers entering the presidential race. Giuliani leads nationally with 34 percent of the GOP vote, while Thompson trails with 22 percent and McCain with 21 percent, according to the most recent CBS News polling, conducted June 25-26.

In large part, McCain's front-runner status was based on assumption more than hard fact. Giuliani has led most national polls through this year. McCain, now 70, has also shown his age on the campaign trail. At times he appears exhausted, droning in a monotone, and during one debate, his attempt to compensate with riled rhetoric was equally apparent.

Still, Tad Devine, Kerry's chief strategist during the 2004 campaign, says McCain can't be counted out yet. "Anybody who says McCain should be dominating this process — 'He was the front-runner, now he's not, therefore he's out' — is likely to make the same mistake people made with Kerry four years ago," said Devine.

In the 2003 third quarter, Dean raised three times the amount as Kerry. Kerry, the one-time front-runner, was trailing Dean by 21 points in New Hampshire according to one Zogby International poll. Kerry's poll numbers in Iowa were following a similar downward trajectory.

In the following weeks, obits were already being written on Kerry's candidacy. By December, Kerry was forced to draw on his personal fortune and loan his campaign $6 million by taking out a mortgage on his Boston home. The Kerry campaign decided to focus on the early primary states, gambling that a strong show in Iowa and New Hampshire would propel the Massachusetts senator to the nomination. It worked.

"McCain has relative strength as a candidate, like Kerry, versus to the rest of the field," Devine said. "One of the reasons Kerry ended up winning was when voters got a sense of all of the candidates they just surmised he was the strongest. Romney and Giuliani are clearly untested on the national stage ... and you already are seeing scrutiny of Thompson."

Mike Allen contributed to this story.

[tylenol6]

MCLAME, You deserve to lose you BIG PHONY!!!!!!!I think he thought BUSH was going to give MCLAME some
of BUSH'S BIG MONEY DONORS...... LOOKS LIKE BUSH SCREWED YOU AGAIN.......

[scribe7716]

I'm a yellow dog Democrat who has been flirting with supporting a Republican for president ever since 1980 when Howard Henry Baker was by far the best choice out there. The GOP, of course, ignored Baker and opted for some third-rate actor.

I was once ready to support McCain but, of course, the GOP opted for the Shrub instead. This time around, however, McCain has shrunken to half his size cozzying up to Soothsayer Pat Robertson and his ilk. So, a yellow dog Democrat I shall remain.

[randalds]

McCain is senile and if there is anyone close to him who really cares about him then they should take him aside and talk him into quitting the race, resigning from the senate and retiring to AZ, before he embarrasses himself in public again. He once was a man to be respected, but he sold that all out for a long shot at the White House. The only possible explanation there could be for him cozying up to Bush (and Rove who insulting him so viciously) is that he has lost his mind. He is either senile or in early stage Alzheimer's. Either way he needs to go while he still has a few shreds of self-respect left.

[red164]

My only problem with Mccain is that he is too old. I like everything he has done. I like his position on Iraq and I like the fact that he tried to fix imigration. I like the fact that he is constantly the thorn in the side of every pollitician on the wrong side of an issue. I don't care for any of the Democrats or other republicans. I like McCain more than any one else. I just worry about his age.

Posted by cbscrash07 at 01:20 PM : Jul 03, 2007

Sir or Sis, you have every right to support your canidate but i'm sorry to bring this to your attention McCain

The Bush-McCain
BS Express
By Frosty Wooldridge
4-27-6

This week, President Bush said in California there's no way to deport millions of illegal aliens. He's the one that opened the barn door and let them into our country. He's the one that won't close the door as tens of thousands pour into our nation weekly. Senator McCain, his side kick and presidential wanna-be touts his ability to lead our nation with his bus ride "Straight Talk Express." However, he promised the one-time amnesty in 1986 with a pledge to secure our borders. He failed us then and Bush fails us now-miserably.

[lippido]

Ain't that a shame, he ONLY raised $11.2 MILLION in the second quarter.

My first question is why do we care what the number is? Do they tell us this so we will donate more?

Does he require that much to get elected or does he just think he needs more? Why do they need to advertise on TV so D*** much? I for one am sick of the political ads.

Does he think we don't know he's running for office so he has to be on radio, television, newspapers and magazines to tell us he's running? Did they need that much money back 20+ years ago to get elected?

[lochlan-2009]

The repubs. havn't got a chance in hell. They're all just money down the drain.

[bizzzz-2009]

Dr. Mr. McCain,
As a veteran myself, I want to thank you for your service in Vietnam. Now, good riddance!

[mizpah63]

John McCain pandered to every voting block in the country. He changed position on virtually every issue. He told fantasy stories about how well his and Mr. Bush's war was going in Iraq. He failed to
condemn the swift-boating of John Kerry. He allowed Karl Rove to roam freely through the Constitution while twisting and distorting it for Bush's benefit. In short, McCain failed to act with integrity. His maverick bluster was a thin veneer for his true character. His bid for the Oval Office is history.

[cantshutup]

Look, you aren't going to win in '08...you're too old and well, frankly you creep me out a bit...be a sport and donate the money you've raised to providing healthcare coverage or food and other needs to the poor here in the U.S.

You too hilary and obama...you're both just too arogant and i think we've had 6 years too much of that already...

[Syndicate]

My only problem with Mccain is that he is too old. I like everything he has done. I like his position on Iraq and I like the fact that he tried to fix imigration. I like the fact that he is constantly the thorn in the side of every pollitician on the wrong side of an issue. I don't care for any of the Democrats or other republicans. I like McCain more than any one else. I just worry about his age.

[minminmin-2009]

The guy is toast. Totally out of touch with what Americans want right now.

[infidel_us]

Stick a fork in McCain....he's DONE!

[amazedd]

Valley Forge, true character building stuff.

[hypnotoad72]

Paying too many people $50/hr for picking lettuce, is that why? :rolleyes: