Citing a “late start” Senator John McCain has announced that his campaign will not hit its quarterly goal for campaign contributions. According to McCain, “We’re going to pay a price for it because we got a late start. We’re not going to meet the goals we had.”
Opening his exploratory committee in December, McCain contends, meant that with the Christmas and Hanukah holidays, the campaign was not able to begin fundraising until January.
In addition, his staff has admitted that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, another presidential contender will probably out fundraise his campaign this quarter.
Some Republicans estimate that Romney, whose network of friends, business contacts and party donors is expansive, could accumulate more than $30 or even $35 million this quarter. McCain is not likely to raise in excess of $30M, according to Republicans outside his campaign who have been given the unofficial estimate. Neither Weaver nor any other McCain aide would hazard a guess about their first quarter tally.
Putting as good a spin on the situation as possible on the news, John Weaver, a McCain strategist stated, “These are moments, none of which at the end of the day impact winning the nomination. We’re on track to do that. Every campaign would trade places with us. We wouldn’t trade places with anyone else.”
McCain campaigned for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2000, losing that bid to President George W Bush. Since that time he has made a point to become an influential member of Congress, frequently hitting the campaign trail nationally for other nominees.
Since the 2006 midterm elections, he has carefully assembled many of the top Republican staff and advisors to aid in his bid for the 2008 nomination. He has lined up a large number of major Bush donors from the 2000 and 2004 campaigns, and is acknowledged to have an extensive direct mail list from his previous campaigns.
David Hinz is the Publisher of The HinzSight Report
March 24th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Sounds like an attempt to overestimate Romney and underestimate themselves.
March 25th, 2007 at 1:35 am
Jason,
I think it is more likely he is lowering expectations to soften the blow. Ironically, what you see hear is part of the McCain-Feingold legislation in effect limiting his potential donations. The wealthy moderates and Bush donors who agree with him can’t contribute much more than their $2300. The real money is to be made with the grassroots and the SoCon activists. McCain can’t tap into them as much.
A thought occurred to me. Do any donors hedge their bets with multiple candidate donations? I imagine that many of the regularly enthusiastic donors would want to feel influential, especially if more than one candidate espouses their views.
March 25th, 2007 at 3:05 am
‘Late start’ riiiight… McCain maybe its because people don’t like you and don’t want you to be president. Wake up man.
March 25th, 2007 at 9:27 am
This seems pretty fishy to me. I find it hard to believe Romney’s going to outfundraise McCain to such an extent that he’d feel the obligation to practically make a press release about the issue. It’s possible he’s just trying to dimish the blow, but I think more likely they’re setting it up so that when McCain raises 5 million more then Romney, they can say “I guess he wasn’t doing as well as we thought”.
March 25th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Thompson & Gingrich, are you paying attention?
March 25th, 2007 at 10:13 am
I’m going to guess that, regardless of how much money both McCain and Romney raise, Giuliani will have substantially more on hand. I’d guess both the McCain and Giuliani campaigns will have spent at 60% of what they’ve raised, compared to perhaps less then 1/3rd for Giuliani.
March 25th, 2007 at 11:29 am
^^^ That doesn’t make sense.
March 25th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
All the anti-Rudy people exclaiming that he doesn’t have a ground game, forget that a national hero doesn’t need one a year out– and also forget that not having one early means he will be left with far more cash on hand.
March 25th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
David B,
It’s not a year out, it’s ten months out till next February, and only 3.5 moths till Ames. Good ground games don’t pop up over night.
March 25th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
David B:]
…Also, I’d consider McCain also a nation hero for his service. He’s probably been planning this run since 2000. Look at his cash numbers. They are clearly lowering expectations. National hero status does not guarantee anything.