Some Campaign Fundraising Trivia

[ESF]

Lots of interesting little nuggets in here.

www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/10/16/the-daily-202-jeb-bushs-86-burn-rate-underscores-fundraising-struggles-for-the-gop-establishment/

The Daily 202: Jeb Bush’s 86% burn rate underscores fundraising struggles for the GOP establishment
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By James Hohmann and Elise Viebeck October 16 at 8:11 AM


— No more shock and awe, Jeb Bush has become just another guy in a crowded field of presidential aspirants. The former Florida governor spent 86 percent of the money he collected over the past three months, burning through $11.5 million of the $13.4 million that he raised. “He should have (raised) at least $25 million,” a major Republican fundraiser told Matea Gold and Philip Rucker.

Jeb’s third quarter report, filed hours before last night’s deadline, showed Bush with less cash on hand right now than Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Ben Carson. The struggling campaign has slashed staff salaries and tried to cut costs in other ways, including requiring the use of cheaper hotels.

Jeb’s haul is still a lot of money, for sure, but it is a staggeringly underwhelming figure for the son and brother of former presidents, both of whom hosted multiple events to shake the family network’s money tree. “Some donors are really nervous,” another top Bush fundraiser told Matea and Phil.

Despite tons of pro-Bush ads airing in the early states, and Jeb’s aggressive schedule, his numbers are lingering and languishing in the single digits. The campaign chalks up its high burn rate to building an infrastructure that can win over the long haul, but insiders fear Jeb is overly dependent on his super PAC. The big open question is whether establishment Republicans are nervous enough to start thinking about throwing their weight behind another candidate or whether they will stick with Jeb in the long-term out of loyalty to the Bush dynasty.

— Bigger picture, the summer was a terrible time to be an establishment Republican trying to dial for dollars.

John Kasich could only muster $4.4 million. It was his first quarter as a candidate, when you’re supposed to be able to grab the low-hanging fruit by hitting up your friends. Kasich, after all, is in his second term as Ohio governor, spent time as a financial services executive and served two decades in Congress. To his credit, Kasich’s burn rate was only 40 percent.

Chris Christie’s money machine is a shadow of its former self. The New Jersey governor raised an even smaller $4.2 million in what was also his first quarter as a candidate. He spent $2.8 million and has $1.4 million in cash on hand, a 67 percent burn rate. A Rutgers-Eagleton poll released yesterday found that Christie is only getting 5 percent among Republicans in his home state. The Bergen Record notes that Christie scored 12 percent in August. Overall, 67 percent of registered voters in his state think Christie should drop out of the race.

Bobby Jindal, who like Christie previously chaired the Republican Governors Association, could only collect $579,000. He has barely a quarter of a million bucks in his coffers — not a good sign with the Iowa caucuses three months away.


— Meanwhile, outsider candidates are faring surprisingly well in the money chase. Compared to the guys above, it’s truly amazing that candidates who have never held elected office – and others like Ted Cruz, who openly bucks the establishment – have been able to bring in so much.

Ben Carson raised $20 million, the most of any GOP candidate. Last night, his report showed that he’s received money from 402,000 individual donors. (Although, in fairness, he spent a whopping $11 million on fundraising expenses.)

Carly Fiorina raised $6.8 million during the 3rd quarter, seeing spikes in donations after her two strong debate performances. She spent just $2.2 million, a 34 percent burn rate. Fiorina has $5.5 million in cash on hand and only 16 paid staffers.

Even Donald Trump, who is not actively fundraising, raised $3.8 million in unsolicited contributions in Q3. His campaign said the average gift was about $50, and 71 percent of the money came from donors giving less than $200.



— Democrats are outpacing Republicans when it comes to individual contributions. Five Democratic candidates reported raising $120 million this year to their campaign committees, while 15 GOP candidates pulled in $141 million total. Hillary said that nearly 400,000 supporters have given her money, up from 250,000 in the first quarter. Bernie Sanders got money from 650,000 supporters. “While GOP candidates put an intense focus early in the year on raising huge sums for independent groups, many have had less success in attracting smaller donations that are the lifeblood of campaign operations,” Matea and Phil note in the Post’s main fundraising story.

Martin O’Malley is the exception. He was outraised again by several Democratic candidates for CONGRESS. The two-term Maryland governor, and a former chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, could only muster a paltry $1.3 million, and his campaign did not even announce its cash on hand. For context: Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D), running for Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s (D) seat in the same state, brought in $950,000. Kamala Harris, running for an open Senate seat in California, raised $1.8 million. Illinois Democratic Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth, who faces a competitive primary to take on a GOP incumbent, raised $1.46 million.

— Finally, here are three other nuggets from the FEC filings:

Martin Shkreli, the Turing Pharmaceutical Company CEO who raised the price of a life-saving drug by 4,000 percent and became public villain #1, maxed out to Bernie Sanders’ campaign in September in the hopes that he could get a sit-down with the senator. David Nather, writing for a new site called Stat in the Boston Globe, said the Sanders’ campaign will donate his $2,700 contribution to the Whitman-Walker health clinic in Washington. “We are not keeping the money from this poster boy for drug company greed,” a spokesman said.

Rand Paul clinging to his presidential dreams. The Paul campaign spent more last quarter than it raised, bringing in $2.5 million and spending $4.5 million. They’ve only got $2.1 million left. The FEC filing shows Paul moved another $57,000 this past quarter from his Senate reelection fund to his presidential campaign, bringing the total transferred to $1.6 million so far. Federal law only allows one-way transfers. A Paul adviser says that saying the campaign transferred funds is an oversimplistic reading of the FEC report. Paul has a joint fundraising account that lets him raise money for both his presidential and Senate campaigns, called “Rand Paul Victory.” The money transferred from that fund was the presidential campaign’s share of joint events or donations. The Kentucky senator has insisted that he’s not dropping out of the presidential contest anytime soon, even though he continues to seek reelection in the Bluegrass State.

Scott Walker’s eye-popping spending helped doom his bid: The Wisconsin governor burned through $1.9 million on payroll and $1.1 million on direct mail during the brief period he was a declared candidate. Walker dropped out with at least $1 million in debt, per the Wall Street Journal. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel highlights some hard-to-justify numbers: “The governor’s campaign manager made more than $50,000 for 71 days of work, while Walker’s sons, Matt and Alex, drew nearly $10,000 in salary between them over those 10 weeks.” Several staffers were poised to make more than $200K a year, including the political director and communications director. See who got paid what here.

[tacosforlife]

Scott Walker paid his sons $1,000 PER WEEK to work on his campaign while he's been slashing public sector pay and benefits and dismantling the university system? Even more that usual, FUCK HIM.

[sfy]

Carson spending $11M on consultants and direct mailing to raise his $20M is worth highlighting, too. He is averaging less $30/donor, but his campaign spending is nuts. I guess at least the book tour is free "campaigning."

I'd like to know what Jeb is spending so much on and why? It's not like it's helping him. If I were him, I wouldn't spend more until more people drop out. It shouldn't be much longer now.

[ESF]

Oct 16, 2015 18:31:51 GMT -5 sfy said:

Carson spending $11M on consultants and direct mailing to raise his $20M is worth highlighting, too. He is averaging less $30/donor, but his campaign spending is nuts. I guess at least the book tour is free "campaigning."

I'd like to know what Jeb is spending so much on and why? It's not like it's helping him. If I were him, I wouldn't spend more until more people drop out. It shouldn't be much longer now.

I read somewhere else that he was flying from place to place on a private plane.   Now he has to ride in the campaign bus like a poor candidate when he goes from Cedar Rapids to Des Moines.

LOLFOREVER.

[UMaineTeach]

What are you allowed to do with leftover campaign funds? Do you have to have a quarter million dollar staff pizza party before you call it quits to spend every dime or are you able to transfer the funds somewhere?

Also, I can never find anything on the NPR site, but a report tonight mentioned that some candidate is showing off how fiscally conservative he can be by buying office furniture on Craigslist.

[sfy]

Oct 16, 2015 19:09:06 GMT -5 @mx said:

Oct 16, 2015 18:31:51 GMT -5 sfy said:

Carson spending $11M on consultants and direct mailing to raise his $20M is worth highlighting, too. He is averaging less $30/donor, but his campaign spending is nuts. I guess at least the book tour is free "campaigning."

I'd like to know what Jeb is spending so much on and why? It's not like it's helping him. If I were him, I wouldn't spend more until more people drop out. It shouldn't be much longer now.

I suspect he signed on a lot of top consultants early on--partly to keep them "off the street" and he's hamstrung by huge monthly retainers. Whereas the Carsons ended up with C list consultants or even none for some specialities (like,,,there just aren't very many R digital consultants) which keeps costs down.

Ohh okay, interesting. I actually saw that most of Carson's consulting fees were for direct mail. I thought it was some kind of old school strategy for his base, but maybe Jeb has everyone on lock.

[sfy]

Oct 16, 2015 19:49:09 GMT -5 @mx said:

Oct 16, 2015 19:43:21 GMT -5 sfy said:

Ohh okay, interesting. I actually saw that most of Carson's consulting fees were for direct mail. I thought it was some kind of old school strategy for his base, but maybe Jeb has everyone on lock.

Direct mail is still a big game, though I think the guys who take the biggest $$$ are the tv guys. This is really H's expertise though I'm just speculating based on what he tells me

Hey, $20M collected (and I saw they still have tons of unopened mail, so who knows what the final tally will be) and $11M spent, it's might not be Super PAC money, but it's not chump change on either end!

[bowies]

Oct 16, 2015 18:31:51 GMT -5 sfy said:

Carson spending $11M on consultants and direct mailing to raise his $20M is worth highlighting, too. He is averaging less $30/donor, but his campaign spending is nuts. I guess at least the book tour is free "campaigning."

I'd like to know what Jeb is spending so much on and why? It's not like it's helping him. If I were him, I wouldn't spend more until more people drop out. It shouldn't be much longer now.

TV ads mostly. Supposedly half of all ads in NH are his. For some parts of NH he has to purchase in the Boston market, which is $$$$.

He's running his campaign like it's the late 90s. No one watches commercials anymore Jeb.

[WanderingWinoZ]

Oct 17, 2015 10:27:05 GMT -5 @mx said:

Oct 16, 2015 22:25:45 GMT -5 bowies said:

TV ads mostly. Supposedly half of all ads in NH are his. For some parts of NH he has to purchase in the Boston market, which is $$$$.

He's running his campaign like it's the late 90s. No one watches commercials anymore Jeb.

Primary voters do. I'd be willing to willing to wager that the median age of a primary voter in the R primary in NH is close to 50. Most voters are older so while the methods might seem silly to younger generations, younger generations don't vote. So campaigns will put their money where the votes are.

Additionally campaigns, when smart, can get a lot of earned media from TV buys.

lol I Was going to say the same thing....exactly those people who DO NOT know how to FF through commercials are likely voters & likley people who would support a R.....

And yes, print & direct mail are still huge- candidates blow through billions in election years, generally without regard to getting best pricing or planning ahead (so everything is rush production & first class postage)