How is Gary Johnson spending his money?

[Adam Griffin]

It certainly doesn't appear to be for media advertising, even though his campaign has utilized online fundraising for such a purpose. I find it hilarious that a Libertarian candidate is spending 80% of his funds on 'administrative costs'.



$900 for media!?

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/expend.php?cycle=2012&id=n00033226

[Donerail]

Still a better candidate than Obamney.

[mondale84]

Still a better candidate than Obamney.

Clearly not...

[Peeperkorn]

Whores and cocaine.

[stegosaurus]

Over a $1,000,000 spent on "Political Advisors"? What do these people say to a doomed third party candidate that is worth so much money?

"You're trailing by 45-65 points in all 50 states and no one outside of New Mexico knows who the hell you are. Let's start there...."

[Donerail]

Still a better candidate than Obamney.

Clearly not...

Clearly yes. I'd take the guy with campaign spending issues over the war criminal any day of the week.

[mondale84]

Still a better candidate than Obamney.

Clearly not...

Clearly yes. I'd take the guy with campaign spending issues over the war criminal any day of the week.

LOL...you have serious perspective issues...

...and LOL at the idea that Gary Johnson is the better candidate. He's a terrible candidate, as evidenced by the fact that he's getting virtually no support.

[Donerail]

Still a better candidate than Obamney.

Clearly not...

Clearly yes. I'd take the guy with campaign spending issues over the war criminal any day of the week.

LOL...you have serious perspective issues...

...and LOL at the idea that Gary Johnson is the better candidate. He's a terrible candidate, as evidenced by the fact that he's getting virtually no support.

He is a war criminal who is murdering innocent people. That is a fact.

[Adam Griffin]

Clearly yes. I'd take the guy with campaign spending issues over the war criminal any day of the week.

What about Romney? Romney's not a war criminal. Innocent until proven guilty.

LOL...you have serious perspective issues...

...and LOL at the idea that Gary Johnson is the better candidate. He's a terrible candidate, as evidenced by the fact that he's getting virtually no support.

I don't think Gary Johnson is a bad candidate by third-party standards, and he does sell a convincing message to those who hear it. The point here is, though, that Gary Johnson is not using his money to sell that message. Seriously, you don't need $1,000,000 worth of consultants to tell you that you will come in third place nationally.

Does this speak about how successful Johnson thinks his campaign will be? As in, "I'm just going to hire a bunch of people - possibly friends of mine - instead of running a media-oriented campaign".

Or, does it shine a light on the hypocrisy of some Libertarian candidates who talk about bureaucracy, duplicity and non-necessity when it comes to spending? Any entity that spends 80% of revenue on administrative costs appears to be nothing but an operation full of corruption and nepotism.

[Donerail]

Clearly yes. I'd take the guy with campaign spending issues over the war criminal any day of the week.

What about Romney? Romney's not a war criminal. Innocent until proven guilty.

No; whether or not his advisors and backers are, however, is an entirely different story.

[King]

From what I remember of Johnson back when he was running for governor, he was a door to door kind of guy.  I remember my parents getting a lot of knocks on the door by Johnson supporters.  I'm guessing that's administrative costs.

He didn't do ads.  Ever.  I don't even remember what his campaign signs looked like and I still remember Martin Chavez's signs (his 1998 opponent).  My only memory of him on TV was in local news interviews.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Holy crap, some sense in all the WHARRGARBL in this thread.

From what I remember of Johnson back when he was running for governor, he was a door to door kind of guy.  I remember my parents getting a lot of knocks on the door by Johnson supporters.  I'm guessing that's administrative costs.

He didn't do ads.  Ever.  I don't even remember what his campaign signs looked like and I still remember Martin Chavez's signs (his 1998 opponent).  My only memory of him on TV was in local news interviews.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

He has a small bus, and he has to get plane tickets to fly him and his small entourage of aides around the country. They need hotels to sleep in, venues to rent, etc, etc.

[mondale84]

He has a small bus, and he has to get plane tickets to fly him and his small entourage of aides around the country. They need hotels to sleep in, venues to rent, etc, etc.

And he's still polling at .00000001%

LOL

If that's a great candidate, what's Mitt Romney???

[Donerail]

He has a small bus, and he has to get plane tickets to fly him and his small entourage of aides around the country. They need hotels to sleep in, venues to rent, etc, etc.

And he's still polling at .00000001%

LOL

If that's a great candidate, what's Mitt Romney???

I hear "Excessive Hyperbole" is an infractionable offense.

Mondale, to bring you up to speed, slaves are no longer 3/5 of a person, so wherever you're getting the idea Johnson is currently polling at about .03 votes is about as accurate as whoever told you Obama can win Tennessee.

[Adam Griffin]

From what I remember of Johnson back when he was running for governor, he was a door to door kind of guy.  I remember my parents getting a lot of knocks on the door by Johnson supporters.  I'm guessing that's administrative costs.

He didn't do ads.  Ever.  I don't even remember what his campaign signs looked like and I still remember Martin Chavez's signs (his 1998 opponent).  My only memory of him on TV was in local news interviews.

I bet such a strategy could be quite effective in a statewide race in NM. With Santa Fe & Albuquerque being within 75 miles of each other, you basically could campaign like a congressional candidate.

I looked up how this information is supposedly classified by OpenSecrets:

ADMINISTRATIVE: The operational costs of running a campaign, including staff salaries and benefits, travel expenses, office rent, utilities, equipment, office supplies and postage, taxes, food, meetings and administrative services such as accounting, compliance and legal fees.

CAMPAIGN EXPENSES: Covers the most direct costs of campaigning, including political consultants, events (rallies but not fundraising events), promotional material such as signs and buttons, polling/surveys/research, get-out-the-vote expenses, and direct mail not related to fundraising.

So administrative costs do include travel, but not GOTV efforts and the like. It can also be considered that running any presidential campaign has a base cost and that Johnson's campaign would most likely have a higher % of money going to this category than say, Barack Obama's. Perhaps it's poor detailing on behalf of the Johnson campaign; why they would simply document over $1,000,000 worth of expenditure as 'Political Advisors' makes no sense, especially if you look at how Obama and Romney's are recorded.

I do not feel that the original premise has been addressed: that Gary Johnson has had huge online fundraising drives to "get Gary on TV" and then spends virtually $0 doing just that.

A lie is a lie, even when you're a Libertarian (Liebertarian?).

[Meeker]

Professional campaigns rarely buy TV ads themselves. You pay a consultant or a media buyer who then purchases it themselves and takes a cut. Not sure if that's what's going on here (would need to look at who the payments are actually to) but that's my initial reaction to looking at this.

[mondale84]

He has a small bus, and he has to get plane tickets to fly him and his small entourage of aides around the country. They need hotels to sleep in, venues to rent, etc, etc.

And he's still polling at .00000001%

LOL

If that's a great candidate, what's Mitt Romney???

I hear "Excessive Hyperbole" is an infractionable offense.

Mondale, to bring you up to speed, slaves are no longer 3/5 of a person, so wherever you're getting the idea Johnson is currently polling at about .03 votes is about as accurate as whoever told you Obama can win Tennessee.

Except Obama is within 8 points in Tennessee and Johnson is down by 50 or more everywhere.

[Donerail]

He has a small bus, and he has to get plane tickets to fly him and his small entourage of aides around the country. They need hotels to sleep in, venues to rent, etc, etc.

And he's still polling at .00000001%

LOL

If that's a great candidate, what's Mitt Romney???

I hear "Excessive Hyperbole" is an infractionable offense.

Mondale, to bring you up to speed, slaves are no longer 3/5 of a person, so wherever you're getting the idea Johnson is currently polling at about .03 votes is about as accurate as whoever told you Obama can win Tennessee.

Except Obama is within 8 points in Tennessee and Johnson is down by 50 or more everywhere.

Romney is within 8 points in California. He shall take the state. 52-48.

[5280]

If I had the funds to help the Johnson campaign take off with ads and media recognition, I'd donate at least $50 million or so.  That is winning the powerball jackpot of a record $300 million give or take.

[mondale84]

He has a small bus, and he has to get plane tickets to fly him and his small entourage of aides around the country. They need hotels to sleep in, venues to rent, etc, etc.

And he's still polling at .00000001%

LOL

If that's a great candidate, what's Mitt Romney???

I hear "Excessive Hyperbole" is an infractionable offense.

Mondale, to bring you up to speed, slaves are no longer 3/5 of a person, so wherever you're getting the idea Johnson is currently polling at about .03 votes is about as accurate as whoever told you Obama can win Tennessee.

Except Obama is within 8 points in Tennessee and Johnson is down by 50 or more everywhere.

Romney is within 8 points in California. He shall take the state. 52-48.

LOL

Romney is down 20+ in Cali in a pool of polls very favorable to him. Obama is down 8 in TN in a pool of polls very unfavorable to him. Obama has a much greater chance at flipping TN than Romney has of taking California.

...and your guy is still down 50 points...

[Simfan34]

This thread is very stupid.

[Lambsbread]

@Mondale:

NONE OF THE THINGS YOU SAY ACTUALLY MEAN THINGS.

[Donerail]

He has a small bus, and he has to get plane tickets to fly him and his small entourage of aides around the country. They need hotels to sleep in, venues to rent, etc, etc.

And he's still polling at .00000001%

LOL

If that's a great candidate, what's Mitt Romney???

I hear "Excessive Hyperbole" is an infractionable offense.

Mondale, to bring you up to speed, slaves are no longer 3/5 of a person, so wherever you're getting the idea Johnson is currently polling at about .03 votes is about as accurate as whoever told you Obama can win Tennessee.

Except Obama is within 8 points in Tennessee and Johnson is down by 50 or more everywhere.

Romney is within 8 points in California. He shall take the state. 52-48.

LOL

Romney is down 20+ in Cali in a pool of polls very favorable to him. Obama is down 8 in TN in a pool of polls very unfavorable to him. Obama has a much greater chance at flipping TN than Romney has of taking California.

...and your guy is still down 50 points...

Once Romney takes New Hampshire, Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Maine, and New Jersey, the returns coming in will significantly depress liberal turnout in California while exciting Republicans, leading Romney to take states like Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and California.

[Maxwell]

this thread depresses me.