First, any discussion about campaign finance spending must start with a reminder that the GOP nominee is not only being vastly outraised, John McCain is breaking the campaign finance laws. He is in the public finance system and subject to its limitations. In February, he knowingly exceeded the spending cap, which is a crime.
Now, for the Democrats and interesting developments from both campaigns.
Via Ben Smith, Obama's fundraising was once again astounding:
Yet another success of lowered expectations, and well-concealed numbers, as Obama announces his fundraising numbers for March.Apparently, we'll be waiting for several weeks before we see the Clinton total for March. This is significant. Very significant. In the past, the Clinton campaign jumped out front to release its campaign numbers -- often before the reporting period had even ended. Even when Clinton had a bad month in January, only raising $13.5 million, Terry McAuliffe revealed the number on February 4th. We knew on February 28, 2008 that Clinton had raised $35 million in February. Not this time. According to Howard Wolfson, on a Clinton campaign conference call, we may see the tax returns soon, but the Clinton campaign will not be releasing its March fundraising total until the filing deadline, which is the 20th of the month. That's not a good sign for Team Clinton. What are they trying to hide?
The campaign says he raised more than $40 million from more than 442,000, more than 218,000 of whom were giving for the first time. It's a well Obama's barely begun to tap.
The superdelegates should probably be asking about the financial viability of the Clinton campaign. Remember, money was part of the Clinton campaign's inevitability -- and she finished February with lots of debt and unhappy creditors.
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