The Sky Is Falling, Send More Money
What do the Romney campaign and Democratic fundraisers have in common? Both saw a silver lining in the news that President Obama had lost his post-convention bounce. But with different motives. Mitt Romney for all the obvious reasons — he wants to win. The Obama folks want to raise money.
In emails with screaming ALL CAPS and boldface announcements, both campaigns want you to know that the election is in peril and can only be saved if you send in your money now. Don't bother writing a check. Go on line and use your credit card.
And the more you gave before the more you will be hit up for more.
It not just for the presidential campaign but for the congressional races as well. Both parties are doing it. Mitt Romney hasn’t been making as many public appearances as President Obama lately because he’s been spending more of his time raising money, but they’re still devoting a lot of face time to their friends with very deep pockets.
Politico reports: “Romney’s campaign and the party committees and super PAC supporting it had raised $736 million, compared to $774 million raised by Obama’s campaign and its party and super PAC allies.”
Both parties need to spend all that time raising money so they can pay for all those annoying ads. Obama once again is bringing in smaller donations from larger numbers of contributors, while Romney is relying on very rich contributors to write very big checks.
In an email soliciting $5 donations, Obama warned, “That a few billionaires writing $10 million checks are enough to overpower the voices of millions of Americans.”
As reported here earlier, more than half a billion of those dollars have gone to media advertising, and the big sprint to the finish line is still six weeks away.
Republican super PACs have raised far more money than the pro-Obama super PACs, and we know that because they have to report it, but what we don’t know and what is so important is where and who did all that money come from. It will probably take a major scandal like Watergate to get the cash addicted politicians at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to reverse the Supreme Court ruling that removed all limits on contributions by corporations, labor unions and anyone with too much money to spend.
When it is all counted, this will be the most expensive presidential election in history, and one or possibly both campaigns could pass the billion-dollar mark alone.
In the meantime, they’re all poor-mouthing.
Some email I got today was typical, so I’ll remove the political identifier: "Special-interest cash is pumping new life into” my extremist opponents, said one, and another told me, “It’s a dead heat, only you can help us to victory.”
Any candidate who is looking for good news about how well he or she is doing, all that’s needed is a peek at what the opposition is saying in the fundraising mail it is sending to its friends.