Obama Shows Increased Spending

[Chris]

Obama Shows Increased Spending

While Sen. Obama's fund raising has smashed records -- his campaign claims two million people have given a cumulative $390 million to his campaign -- the Illinois senator is spending at a record clip. The campaign said it ended the month with $65.8 million in cash, about $5 million less than it reported on hand June 30, excluding debt. That suggests the campaign's spending more than doubled month to month, to nearly $56 million in July from $25.7 million in June. Sen. McCain also spent more than he took in: He ended July with about $4 million less on hand. But his monthly spending remained steady in July at about $31 million.

The other likely reason for the Obama campaign's burgeoning expenses is the number of field offices it has opened. The campaign reports it has 131 such offices in five potential battleground states, compared to 13 reported by the McCain campaign. In Florida, for example, the Obama campaign lists 32 local offices, compared to three for Sen. McCain. In Missouri, the ratio is 29 to 1, while in New Mexico it stands at 23 to 1.

This article is a few weeks old and the data is older (July), but I doubt Obama's spending habits have changed since then.  McCain raised a nearly equal amount of money this month as his opponent but his campaign is in better shape financially.  Obama is not going to be able to spend his way into the White House.

[Jim]

As of about now, both parties are neck and neck in cash.  Barry just sent an appeal for more (most of his contributors have apparently not hit the max.  Moreover he's been trying hard to hit HRC's people for money so he can reclaim the cash atvantage.  I have to wonder how much cash there is left in the pot after he's pissed away 400 million just on his own so far.

Of course its always been about buying it, he certainly cannot earn it.  Much as Mark Warner won Virginia's governorship, only he did it with his own money.  And it took a lot.  A record as I recall.