post 2nd quarter fundraising numbers here

[Mr. Morden]

I thought it would be good to have one thread in which we could post all the 2nd quarter fundraising numbers as they're released.  The candidates aren't required to report their fundraising numbers until two weeks from now, but last time around, most of the candidates issues press releases well before that.

First up, Bill Richardson raised about $7 million in the second quarter:

http://kob.com/article/stories/S127401.shtml?cat=500

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[Mr. Morden]

Keep in mind that most of the top tier candidates are raising $ for both the primary and the GE simultaneously, even though the GE $ can't be used for the primary, and so is irrelevant for the nomination fight.  In the first quarter, a significant fraction of Clinton's fundraising was for the GE, and Obama actually surpassed her in primary $ raised.

In most of these press releases, the candidates will probably report the combined primary+GE number, because it sounds more impressive.  So I presume that's what Clinton's $27 million figure represents...primary + GE combined.....even though the GE number is irrelevant at this point.

[Mr. Morden]

Chuck Todd was just on Meet the Press, and said that his sources indicated that Obama raised over $30 million *in primary $ alone*, while Clinton't number for the primary is probably in the low 20s.  So the gap between them could be as much as $10 million.

[Mr. Morden]

That article also says that at least $31 million of that $32.5 million is for the primary.

[Mr. Morden]

The Boston Globe is saying that only $21 million of Clinton's $27 million is for the primary:

link

So the gap in primary $ raised for the quarter between Obama and Clinton is indeed about $10 million.  Obama has already wiped out the $ advantage that Clinton had from the $10 million she was able to transfer from her Senate campaign.

The aricle also indicates that Dodd raised $3.25 million for the quarter.

[Mr. Morden]

McCain raised $11.2 million for the quarter:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0707/4755.html

though that likely includes general election $.  This isn't as much of a dropoff from the 1st quarter as I would have expected given the media speculation, but then the Q1 numbers were themselves disappointing.  The article also says that the campaign is left with just $2 million in cash on hand, though they maddeningly don't differentiate between primary and GE money.  In any case, this fits in with the trend from Q1, which had McCain spending more than any other candidate save Romney, despite being well behind him (and others) in fundraising.

[Mr. Morden]

Including $ that he gave himself, Romney's campaign has amassed $44 million in 2007, yet he's already spent $32 million of it!  That's an incredibly large sum to be spending this early.  It has to be a record.

Oh, also, as I understand it, Romney is the only one of the 1st tier candidates who's only raising $ for the primary, and not the GE as well.

[Mr. Morden]

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic is saying "I'll have Rudy Giuliani's numbers up soon, but it's clear that he outraised Mitt Romney in the second fundraising quarter."

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/

[Mr. Morden]

I assume that we're also going to get fundraising numbers from Fred Thompson at some point?  I mean, he has an exploratory committee.  I assume he raised some $ with that committee before June 30th, so at least by the July 15th deadline, we should be getting something from him, no?

[Mr. Morden]

New numbers for second tier candidates:

link

Biden: $2.4 million
Brownback: $1.5 million

[Mr. Morden]

Nothing official yet on how much Fred Thompson raised in the second quarter, but according to this:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/11/AR2007071102171.html

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(Since Thompson set up his exploratory committee at the begining of June, "the first month" would be his entire 2nd quarter haul.)

We'll find out for sure in a couple of days.

[Mr. Morden]

Yeah, here's an item on McCain's debt:

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/07/mccains_campaign_to_report_deb.php

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I'm still kind of unclear on what the numbers are, as I don't believe the McCain campaign has explained how much GE $ is included in all of this.  The official numbers are to be reported to the FEC by Sunday, so it should be cleared up by then.

[Mr. Morden]

The article I linked to a couple posts back says "Initially, reports suggested that Thompson's goal was to raise close to $5 million in the first month." but then goes on to quote the Thompson camp insisting the goal was $2 million all along.

[Mr. Morden]

All the official numbers should be coming out today.  Latest one to add:

link

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[Mr. Morden]

And some more:

http://www.newsone.ca/ottawarecorder/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=25850

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[Mr. Morden]

Not all the numbers are in yet, especially for the 2nd/3rd tier candidates, but here's what we have so far (in terms of *primary* $ raised in Q2):

Obama $31 m
Clinton $21 m
Edwards $9 m, but that includes some unspecified amount for the GE
Richardson $7 m
Dodd $3.25 m
Biden $2.4 m
Kucinich $757,000

Giuliani $15 m
Romney $14 m + $6.5 m contributed by himself
McCain $11.2 m, but that includes some unspecified amount for the GE
Paul $2.4 m
F. Thompson campaign insiders claim it'll be "at least $2 million"
Brownback $1.5 m
Huckabee $764,000
T. Thompson $461,000

No word yet from Gravel, Hunter, or Tancredo.

[Mr. Morden]

Found a great website for fundraising numbers:

http://www.politicalmoneyline.com/

Hunter raised $814,000 and Tancredo raised $1.5 million (putting him ahead of most of the 2nd tier) in the second quarter.  For both Edwards and McCain, about $250,000 of their fundraising for Q2 was for the general election.  I'm too lazy to work out the exact numbers, but I think that puts McCain's *primary money* cash on hand pretty close to zero once you subtract away debt.

Tommy Thompson is officially the big loser in fundraising, as he trails all of his GOP rivals (not counting Gilmore, who's dropped out), and is also behind every one of the Dems except Gravel.

[Mr. Morden]

Fred Thompson did not file his fundraising forms with the FEC.  He's attempting to use a legal loophole to avoid doing so, though we may get something from his campaign on July 31st:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=3379643&page=3

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More from Marc Ambinder:

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/07/fred_thompsons_disclosure_conu.php

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[Mr. Morden]

And finally, the numbers for Gravel:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/16/politics/purehorserace/main3062396.shtml

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Only $30,000 left in the bank?  He shouldn't have blown all that money on the "fire" ad.

[Mr. Morden]

More on Fred Thompson's fundraising disclosure: MSNBC's "First Read" confirms that Thompson *will* file that IRS form I mentioned by the end of July, with the more detailed FEC report to follow in October:

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/07/17/273761.aspx

It's still unclear to me whether that IRS form is actually something that has to be made public, or if he can just file it with the IRS, and it remains confidential.  Will we actually know anything definitive about Thompson's fundraising before October?

They also say that his formal announcement of candidacy "could slip into early September".

[Mr. Morden]

An excellent graphic from the NY Times that focuses on expenditures rather than $ raised:

link

In terms of total expenditures for the year (not just Q2), the top spenders are:

Romney $32.3 m
McCain $23.2 m
Obama $22.7 m
Clinton $17.9 m
Giuliani $17.3 m
Edwards $9.8 m
Richardson $6.2 m
Dodd $5.7 m
Biden $3.7 m
Brownback $2.9 m
Tancredo $2.2 m
Hunter 1.1 m
everyone else less than $1 million

There's also a map of the campaign offices for the top three candidates from each party.  The Dems seem to have many more campaign offices in IA and NH, whereas the Republicans just have one or two for each state.  SC is the only other state where all six have at least one campaign office.  All the Dems have offices in NV, but none of the Republicans do.  Other common places for campaign offices are NYC, Los Angeles, Florida, and Illinois.  Neither Giuliani nor Romney has an office in DC.

[Mr. Morden]

Well it makes sense that Romney would have to spend more, since he was starting from a position in which he wasn't as well known as his rivals.  Also, he can afford to tap his huge personal fortune to get more $ if he needs to.  Something that his rivals can't do, since they're not nearly as rich.  But still, $32 million is an unbelievable amount of money to be spending this early.  I'm sure it must be a record.

In McCain's case though, I have no idea what his campaign was thinking in spending all that money.  What's really remarkable is that he spent all that money without even airing any ads!