Team McCain Offers Their Outlook on the General Election
[ Very detailed ]
Several senior staff members of the McCain campaign, including campaign manager Rick Davis, held a briefing for a handful of campaign correspondents today.
Finances: In the past 60 days, the McCain campaign’s finances have improved dramatically – Davis describes it from “being even” to “a place where we have a significant cash bank account… Going from zero to $30 million is pretty significant. We’ve expanded our capability to fundraise, and not spend too much over past 60 days. We chose to consolidate.”
“It’s a much more egalitarian environment, moneywise, than anyone’s willing to report,” Davis said. He explained a chart that showed John McCain’s campaign and the RNC having a combined $85.1 million ( 53.6 for the RNC, $31.5 million for McCain and their “what we believe, pretty confident” estimates of their counterparts – $46.5 million cash on hand for Obama, $4.4 million for the DNC
“We’re at least $35 million ahead of them in terms of cash on hand,” he concluded.
What happened to all of Obama’s money? Ask Hillary Clinton, it would seem. The McCain folks noted that their “burn rate” in April – where their primary was over – was 45 percent; Obama’s burn rate for the month that included that key Pennsylvania primary was 114 percent.
“I realize Obama is the greatest fundraiser in American political history, but he blew through a couple hundred million over the past few months,” Davis said. “Barack Obama will not have 60 days where he effectively doesn’t have competition the way we had.”
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