McCain Raises $15 Million In March

Fundraising Tally Improves For GOP Nominee-In-Waiting But Still Lags Behind Obama, Clinton

(CBS/AP)  Sen. John McCain raised more than $15 million in March for his presidential campaign, a top performance for the likely Republican nominee that still falls far short of the cash gathered by rival Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The amount was confirmed to The Associated Press by two campaign officials speaking on condition of anonymity because the numbers haven't been made public.

The McCain campaign is on track to meet its internal budget goal of about $57 million through the start of the Republican convention and an additional $20 million for a legal compliance fund, reports CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder.

One official said McCain intends to accept public financing in the general election - a sum of about $84 million. McCain donors are now being asked to supplement that public financing with donations to the Republican National Committee, with a goal of raising $120 million through a joint Victory Committee.

The March fundraising and the decision to seek public financing in the fall are two separate tracks that highlight the superior fundraising by the Democratic candidates.

Obama raised $40 million in March, bringing his total so far in the campaign to about $234 million. Clinton raised $20 million for a total of more than $175 million during the entirety of the contest. McCain has raised about $75 million since he began running last year.

Clinton has raised at least $22 million for the general election and is expected to raise her own money if she is the Democratic nominee. Obama, who once said he would take public money if his Republican rival did as well, has made no commitment and is under pressure to use his formidable fundraising in the general election as well.

No presidential candidate has rejected public financing in the general election since the post-Watergate campaign finance reforms of the 1970s. The money is financed by taxpayers who check off a $3 dollar allocation to the presidential fund in their tax returns.

By setting up a joint fundraising committee with the national Republican Party, McCain can maximize the donor power of his contributors. Donors who contribute to the Victory Committee could give up to $30,800. Of that, $28,500 could go to the party and $2,300 to McCain, provided they had not donated to McCain before. Previous McCain donors could still contribute the maximum $28,500 to the party.

Details of the candidates March fundraising won't be known until they file their reports with the Federal Election Commission April 20.

[whitepicks2]

John McCain and his campaign continue to put politics ahead of a responsible way forward in Iraq. Instead of outlining his plan for the future, explaining whether his vision of a decades long troop presence in Iraq includes permanent bases there, or saying how he plans to pay for a war that now costs $12 billion a month while making Bush''s tax cuts for the wealthy permanent, McCain continues to advocate a stay the course strategy.

McCain has consistently gotten the basic facts on the ground wrong throughout this campaign....

- McCain said on the Hugh Hewitt radio show ''As you know, there are al-Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they''re moving back into Iraq.''...Wrong!

- ''We continue to be concerned about Iranian [operatives] taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back,'' he said in comments after meeting with Jordan''s King Abdullah II

- McCain Referred To Al Qaeda As A "Sect Of Shi''ites" MCCAIN: Do you still view al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat? PETRAEUS: It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was say 15 months ago. MCCAIN: Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shi''ites overall?.....Al-Qaeda is a Sunni militant org. Wrong again!

[jonesforch]

McSame you still owe us the taxpayer''''s for that jet you got shot down in in vietnam...your not the brightest light on the christmas tree are you...hope your wife doesn''''t relapse with all of this stress..hope her and Pres. Bushit took there prozac this morning..well I got too go get some gas, it''''s going to cost me $75.00 to fill up, 7 years ago it only me $38.00 to fill up..this I have to pay my monthly insurance premium of $450.00..money,money,money.....they can''''t even win in that small country of iraq, fire all of our officer''''s , who by the way are in a air condition trailer in saUDIA ARABIA sending out order''''s...drop the big one...but that''''s no fun..and it doesn''''t make any money

Posted by wp4088

So do you want your meds for free? Come on what do you THINK they should cost?

[jonesforch]

Good for you John. Single handedly you managed just on your own merits to raise that kind of money while the clowns on the other side need George Soros or Hollyweird. Good for you John.


Amen to that mudrose

Posted by mudrose

[mudrose-2009]

Good for you John. Single handedly you managed just on your own merits to raise that kind of money while the clowns on the other side need George Soros or Hollyweird. Good for you John.

[jt_lancer]

McCain or Obama - who will the sheeple ''choose'' to be their next Master?

[starleo146]

15 million when Obamas people who are donating, that 15 million will look like pennies. He better get more than that.

[blackspirit3]

TONY PERKINS A MCCAIN SUPPORTER - Tony Perkins is President of the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council Perkins addressed the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), America''''s premier white supremacist organization, the successor to the White Citizens Councils, which battled integration in the South. In 1996 Perkins paid former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke $82,500 for his mailing list. SHOULD MCCAIN DISTANCE HIMSELF FROM MR PERKINS?

[blackspirit3]

The Keating Five were five United States Senators, who were accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The five senators, Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), John McCain (R-AZ), Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), were accused of improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of an investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board.

[watcher269-2009]

McShame is on his cross country tour aboard his w
*********** - he''ll do anything for a Buck these days!

McSame - ******* to a state near you

[dante805]

Only 1 candidate is increasing his contributions from month to month. And Thats McCain. He has the momentum not Obamination or Hitlar_y. Dumbo ears is fading with all his anti-USA remarks, whites are fleeing his side.

[mudrose-2009]

He needs to get on the Haliburton hot line for money.

Posted by bgwinnett

Senators Oreo and Thunder Thighs are in line ahead of him.

[skyk-2009]

The problem for the dems is while they are raising twice the money they are spending it on each other


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Posted by jedi08 at 10:15 PM : Apr 07, 2008
+ report abuse

Now that doesn''t make sense! When you look at the excitement and all the new voters being brought out by these canidates it''s amazing. In this state we have NEVER had this kind of excitement since the early 60''s... WE are going to have a voice in who is going to be on the ticket!! The message IS getting out and all that money is NOT being wasted...far from it.

[briannorwood]

whitepicks2:

Great post. I agree with you that once the voters get to know McCain''s positions on just about everything, he will be soundly rejected in the fall.

[bgwinnett]

He needs to get on the Haliburton hot line for money.

[watcher269-2009]

A confidential draft agreement covering the future of US forces in Iraq, passed to the Guardian, shows that provision is being made for an open-ended military presence in the country.

The draft strategic framework agreement between the US and Iraqi governments, dated March 7 and marked "secret" and "sensitive", is intended to replace the existing UN mandate and authorises the US to "conduct military operations in Iraq and to detain individuals when necessary for imperative reasons of security" without time limit.

The authorisation is described as "temporary" and the agreement says the US "does not desire permanent bases or a permanent military presence in Iraq". But the absence of a time limit or restrictions on the US and other coalition forces - including the British - in the country means it is likely to be strongly opposed in Iraq and the US.

Iraqi critics point out that the agreement contains no limits on numbers of US forces, the weapons they are able to deploy, their legal status or powers over Iraqi citizens, going far beyond long-term US security agreements with other countries. The agreement is intended to govern the status of the US military and other members of the multinational force.

[whitepicks2]

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don''t):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he''s continued to oppose key civil rights laws.

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.

4. McCain opposes a woman''s right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."

5. The Children''s Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children''s health care bill last year, then defended Bush''s veto of the bill.

[whitepicks2]

6. He''s one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.

7. Many of McCain''s fellow Republican senators say he''s too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He''s erratic. He''s hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America''s founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God''s punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0%u2014yes, zero%u2014from the League of Conservation Voters last year.

[jedi08]

The problem for the dems is while they are raising twice the money they are spending it on each other

[realpatriot1]

trapbreak,

Why should he start the band playing while his opponents are fighting? Quite simply, because he''s supposed to be running FOR the Presidency, not against
his opponents.

It doesn''t matter that he hasn''t raised as much as the Democrats because he has raised enough to project his message. He can do quite a bit of that with free media as well.

The problem is for him to define the message. If he can''t do that now while his opponents are still engaged with one another when will he have a better opportunity?

I''m not saying this to bash McCain, I''m just being realistic about how campaigns flow. He''s making the mistake that Kerry made. Kerry thought he could take off some time in between the Conventions and go windsurfing. Meanwhile, his opponents were defining him while he was failing to articulate himself.

He still has plenty of time to do the job, but he''s not off to a very auspicious beginning with his statements on economic and housing policy on top of his gaffes on Iraq.

The candidate who wins will be the one who best articulates a positive and believable vision foe the future of America and neither side should be gloating at this point.

[kansas1946]

Wow, 15 million, and he is the only Republican candidate. The Democrats raised four times that in a month.
Obama and Clinton have raised 409,000,000 and John has raised 75,000,000. I guess even Republicans are not to keen on John McCain. Independents either. Instead of Hillary dropping out, maybe John should drop out.