So why would anyone scrimp to donate to a person who's worth tens of millions of dollars?

[dkf]

That's like Bloomberg, who was perfectly capable of spending millions, asking people to donate to his campaign...

Hillary should self-finance. Its not right to ask her hurting supporters to donate for a lost cause.

[MichiganVote]

1. Why does anyone donate to any of them? They all have plenty of money at their disposal.

[democrattotheend]

12. Obama doesn't have enough money to finance a campaign

His entire net worth would be blown on one ad buy.

[MichiganVote]

13. Obama has more than enough moeny in his war chest honey.

[dkf]

15. Because we give it to him...

Obama owes everything to us...the grass roots.

Hillary owes everything to a whole lot of people who paid $30,000 a pop and more for "just words".

Think about it...money from books and from speaking. Its all just words. Or maybe they are buying influence. Problem is that Hillary has a lot more idea about who she owes than Obama does. Hillary's $ came in chunks, Obama's in little bitty pieces.

[MichiganVote]

24. I don't know what percentages either has and I don't care.

None of them are going to be able to administer a government of this size w/o favors and to assume otherwise is silly.

[dkf]

27. Call me silly then. I'm the one Obama owes.

Me and people like me...just your typical anonymous American.

[MichiganVote]

32. Uh huh...we'll see.

[dkf]

33. I sure hope so.

:)

[democrattotheend]

16. I meant personal wealth

He's done well financially but not well enough to self-finance by any means. And there was a time not that long ago when he and Michelle were not so financially secure.

[MichiganVote]

25. So what? The only candidate I know of who really spent a large portion of his own $ was Romney.

[GodlessBiker]

2. I think this was the fear of releasing the tax returns.

[rpannier]

3. That cuts both ways

They are both wealthy people.

They don't need the donations.

In fact, when was the last serious candidate who ran for the presidency that needed the money?

[dkf]

6. Barack is not wealthy. He was paying off student loans until a few years ago.

He certainly hasn't made over $100 million dollars.

[Nicole]

38. What???? He's a millionaire, I call that wealthy.

He's not as wealthy as Clinton but he is wealthy.

[cali]

42. No, sorry, he's not terribly wealthy

being worth a million or so isn't wealthy.

[Hepburn]

43. Hate to say it, but anymore, it is no big deal to be a millionaire.

Especially in Calif where a small tract home that was built in the 1970s and sold around $35K is now worth well over $1-mil.

Just sayin'....

[AllentownJake]

4. Down goes the fundraising

To 10 million in April.

[Olney Blue]

5. People give money to causes/people they believe in.

[dkf]

7. Well I would sure hate to hear of someone eating P&B sandwiches for a year so they could

donate to Hillary.

[Olney Blue]

20. I don't know of any Americans that unselfish, do you?

[dkf]

37. I bet a lot of people are donating money they really can't afford.

[Olney Blue]

40. It happens every week across the country in synagogues and churches as well.

And I agree with you-some people probably give to politicians when they shouldn't. :hi:

[JNelson6563]

55. It happened in 04, 08 will be no different

Primary season is a time of great passions and the GE can be too. I'll never forget how so many spoke/wrote of seriously scrimping to send Kerry money and he ended up not spending a lot of money. I felt so bad for those who cut into their grocery money or whatever only to learn many millions sat there doing nothing.

Yeah, some really sacrifice to support a candidate they believe in.

Julie

[sandnsea]

8. We don't let people buy public office

Did you think of that?

[dkf]

10. Sure we do...

Romney planned to. Bloomberg would have too, if he ran.

I can't believe we all fell for Hillary's "poor me" loan to her campaign.

She's probably richer than a lot of her big donors. How's THAT for irony.

[sandnsea]

26. No, "we" meaning we as a people

tend to frown on people who think they can spend a bunch of money and buy their way into public office.

[dkf]

31. Maybe that is the catch 22

Nobody wants to give to the rich person, but the people don't want to elect someone they see as buying the office.

[sandnsea]

34. Millions of dollars are being donated

I don't really follow your thinking.

[GodlessBiker]

14. I think the Sup. Ct. has allowed regulation of donations not spending one's own money.

[dkf]

21. I don't think so...

Bloomberg Again Likely to Set Record in Spending

Article Tools Sponsored By
By MIKE McINTIRE
Published: November 4, 2005

Spending an average of $1 million a day in the final stretch of his re-election campaign, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is closing fast on the record $74 million he spent in 2001, campaign finance records show.

He had spent at least $66 million by Oct. 27, the last day for which information was available from the city's Campaign Finance Board. In the 10 days before that, Mr. Bloomberg had spent about $12 million, most of it on television, radio and newspaper advertising.
Skip to next paragraph

While that pace puts him on track to match or exceed what he spent in his previous campaign, it would fall short of the $100 million that his opponents have trumpeted as the likely final total after next Tuesday's election. That higher amount has emerged as a sort of malevolent jackpot for Mr. Bloomberg's opponent, Fernando Ferrer, whose campaign Web site features a "Mike-o-Meter" that purports to reflect real-time spending by the mayor.

Mr. Ferrer's rapidly spinning "Mike-o-Meter," which is based on the pace of Mr. Bloomberg's spending in 2001, was fast approaching the $100 million mark yesterday. But some political experts said they did not believe that Mr. Bloomberg's spending, however large, would reach that milestone.

"I doubt it," said George Arzt, a longtime consultant who is not working for either campaign. "I just think he's going to equal or slightly exceed the $74 million from the last time. I don't think he'll reach $100 million."

Mr. Ferrer and his supporters have tried to make spending by the mayor, a billionaire who finances his own campaigns, a campaign issue. It is reflective, they say, of a heavy-handed disregard for fairness, and not in keeping with Mr. Bloomberg's own statement, early in his 2001 campaign, that pouring more than $30 million of his money into a campaign would "look obscene." He went on to spend more than twice that amount that year.

This time around, Mr. Bloomberg had already violated his own obscenity standard by the end of September, when his spending surpassed $40 million. Four years ago at that time, he had spent less than $30 million.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/04/nyregion/metrocampaigns/04millions.html

[GodlessBiker]

28. You just proved my point. There is no regulation on spending your own money.

[dkf]

30. Oops, I thought you were arguing the opposite. I agreed with you the whole time!

[AP]

49. FEC regs vs NYC municipal regs -- they're probably very different.

Here are the rules for city races in NY:

http://www.nyccfb.info/candidates/index.aspx?sm=candidates_

Specifically, non-participants are not limited in the amount they can contribute to their own campaign and participants are limited to three times the limits for individuals.

http://www.nyccfb.info/candidates/candidates/limits/2009.htm?sm=candidates_

[AP]

48. That's a municipal race. Federal laws might be different.

[sandnsea]

29. I didn't mean legally, I meant culturally n/t

[msongs]

9. is obama and his wife on welfare or something then? nt

[IsItJustMe]

36. Compared to the Clintons, damn near I would say.

[Poll_Blind]

11. Oh hell, I thought you were talking about organized religion for a sec.

Then again, based on the ruthless behaviour of some of her supporters- heh heh. OkwellIgottagonow. 8^)

PB

[polichick]

17. The Catholic church used to be the biggest landlords in Manhattan...

...and yet they were tax exempt. Ridiculous!

(Don't know if they still own so many properties.)

[Poll_Blind]

22. I know they got bucks that most space programs don't come close to.

  Thanks for the tidbit, I think I might do a little reading on their holdings.

PB

[quantass]

18. But you forget..Hilary isnt doing it for the people, its for the Lobbyists

[Erin Elizabeth]

19. Yeah, I was kind of wondering that myself.

I gave to Dean back in the day, but I knew he couldn't self-finance.

[TexasObserver]

23. Why? Because they're delusional and think she's doing it for them.

It's the same thing that drives sports fans to think their favorite sports star should be paid $20 mil per year, while they hate the owner who pays the guy.

[intheozone]

35. Seriously??? Really, we want our candidates buying their way into office?

Are you fucking kidding me with this shit! How long did you think about that idea before posting it?? Not long, I'm guessing.

[dkf]

39. Its not like her money didn't come from the same high rollers that are

financing her campaign.

Looks like the same pot to me. Just sayin...

[jasmine621]

41. Same reason people scrimped for Kerry, Edwards, and JFK.

Because they believe in the candidate. Get a life.

[EffieBlack]

45. This is the "if I don't have it, nobody should" mentality

The zero sum game approach to politics - some people insist that Democrats provide more opportunities for folks to achieve the American dream, but then turn around and attack anyone who actually does achieve prosperity.

Interestingly, the first people they attack are those who sacrifice to go into public office, behaving as if it is a sin and a shame that a public figure doesn't take a vow of poverty. They did it to Edwards - even though he made his money helping people. They're doing it to the Clintons - even though they spend most of their lives living very modestly when they could have gotten rich a long, long time ago. They're doing it to the Obamas, who, rather than take lucrative jobs that their degrees and smarts made available to them, took less pay in order to do good and are now being attacked because Obama wrote a book that millions of people obviously wanted to buy and read.

The bottom line for some people is that anyone who is doing worse than they are must be lazy, unworthy and just not trying hard enough. Anyone who is doing better than they are must be crooks, mercenary and just not to be trusted.

Class warfare personified.

[AP]

44. I don't think FEC allows candidate to give own campaign more money than you're allowed to give as

an individual (what is it now? 4200 total?).

That's why people have to loan their campaigns money, and I think there are serious penalties if the campaign doesn't pay it back.

I googled old articles about John Glenn's campaign debt. He had to get special permission from the FEC to give his campaign (IIRC) 200,000 dollars years later so that he could pay off debt to vendors (who hadn't already written off the unpaid debt as a tax loss) and pay off interest on a bank loan. The reason was because he couldn't donate more that the federal limit to his campaign (again, IIRC).

[dogday]

46. Should we have applied that same logic to Kerry

Come on now, nobody should have to spend their own personal money for a campaign, if they don't have to...

[AP]

47. should we have?

Should we "of"?

[dogday]

51. Thanks for that

Too early, not enough coffee....

[gear_head]

50. donate to other Democrats ...

if HRC faces a gifting shortfall...
nothing changes, she will self-finance,
and recover with their usual incomes

[DangerDave921]

52. Seriously

100+ million in 7 years? Holy cow! Even I didn't suspect they'd earned that much.

Bill earned 50 million in speeches!? I don't care who the person is; what they have to say is not worth 50 million.

[Mezzo]

53. I know!!! Wonder why they're donating Obama like that. I've heard tell of bundling.

but honestly thought the source wasn't good enough.

[onenote]

54. math not your strongest subject I can see

Comparing Bloomberg to HRC and suggesting HRC should self finance indicates that numbers are hard for you. Let me help.

Bloomberg's net worth: $5.5 BILLION; amount spent on Mayor race, approximately $75-$85 million

HRC's income over eight years: $109 million (subtract $10 million charitable, $33 million taxes, etc) and net worth is going to be under $50 million. Both Clinton and Obama are spending $1 million a day on the campaign -- over $30 million in February.

Do the math.