The Buzz
- Some serious fundraising troubles are emerging the Obama campaign at a time when all previous conventional wisdom had the campaign building an unassailable war chest over summer with which to smother McCain and the GOP with organizational spending and huge ad buys in swing states and red states. That may yet occur, but Obama’s upcoming number for June don’t tell that story. Wall Street Journal has an early scoop on said numbers, and they don’t look good. While McCain is believed to have raked in a solid - for him - $22 million last month, the Obama campaign’s totals are around $30 mil for June. It’s far from a crisis, but 30 mil is about half of what his totals were projected to be and shows a continuation of the fundraising malaise that swamped the campaign in May. The energy of the primaries has lagged, more donors are tapping out, and Hillary’s base are withholding the campaign cash that Obama was counting on. Hew is essentially trying to run a general election campaign on a half tank. A sizable minority in the Democratic Party are refusing to donate to a campaign based on a full cash flow and major spending initiative to put key states in play.
- As stated above, the most obvious reason that Obama is lagging behind in fundraising is Hillary Clinton. Her supporters - notably the deep pockets in D.C. and New York - are refusing to donate to Obama and his campaign is being used by Hillary as a conduit to raise funds for herself in order to pay off her campaign debts. Not only is Obama not getting any money from HRC’s base, but he is also forced to run a second fundraising effort for the Clinton debt. It is a recipe for taking your eye offf the ball and ensuing financial nightmares. The need to soothe angry Clinton backers is becoming all the more pressing with each month’s paltry cash hauls. The question is, how does Obama do it?
- Don’t expect the Dem’s “dream ticket” of Obama-Hillary to emerge from this fundraising catastrophe. Obama must convince Hillary supporters to jump on his bandwagon, but it looks like any thought of naming Hillary the Veep candidate is dead. Former Clinton comm director Howard Wolfson said as much last night on Fox News. Woflson is in the know about these things, so when he says that Hillary isn’t being vetted for Veep “as far as (he) knows,” it’s probably the real deal.
- Still a watch-and-wait period for the Phil Gramm scandal engulfing John McCain. Today will be the second news cycle where Gramm’s “whiners” and “mental recession” comments have been among the top stories, so we’ll be able to gauge the lasting effects over the weekend. What is hurting McCain the most is Gramm’s decision to bluster further and stand by each and every one of his comments, although he made a weak attempt at accusing the Washington Times of “misquoting” him - though only on the “whiners” quip. Safe to say that the controversy has completely knocked the campaign off message and renders it impossible to talk about issues of strength for McCain - certainly not the economy. The Iranian missile tests and surging gas prices are tossed aside in favor of questions about McCain’s relationship with Gramm, his “economic guru” and longtime confidante, and whether or not he is truly out of touch.
- Speaking of lasting effects, this story centers around Viagra coverage… The McCain camp has apparently taken a log break from controlling the GOP nominee’s surrogates, as Phil Gramm’s gaffe came right after former VP candidate Carly Fiorina voiced support for subsidized birth control for women. This is obviously blasphemy for conservatives, and McCain knows it. The issues really blew up when McCain completely botched a response to a question on Fiorina’s comments.
- Republican presidential candidate John McCain was asked Wednesday if he agrees with one of his advisers, Carly Fiorina, that it’s unfair for health insurers to pay for men to get Viagra but not for women to get birth control pills. CNN has video of the exchange McCain had with a reporter. “I certainly do not want to discuss that issue,” McCain says at the opening. “I don’t know enough about it to give you an informed answer,” he adds after a long pause.
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wow, is McCain’s campaign about to implode….. better toss Carly ‘under the bus’….before you know it both may be under it too, McCain and Obama….therefore, behind door number three, out comes presidential candidate Al Gore, who never fully recovered from election 2000….