Obama and The DNC Burn Their Cash as Irresponsibly as They Burn Ours - Granite Grok

Obama and The DNC Burn Their Cash as Irresponsibly as They Burn Ours

Why so blue, Debbie? Union loan sharks got ya down? (AP photo)

So much fun, so little time – you just can’t make this stuff up!
Debbie Washerwoman-Schultz is in such dire straits that even Obama’s Chinese Money Laundry won’t be able to bail her out. Consider these bullets:

  • Obama for America borrowing $15M from crony Buffet’s BofA to pad September numbers.
  • Obama for America has top-heavy organization, unsustainable burn rate.
  • DNC borrowing from SEIU’s Amalgamated Bank for the SECOND month, total $15M, to cover shortfalls.
  • DNC cash on hand less than $5M, liabilities of around $20M.
  • BofA contributed $20M to the Democrat National Convention, but got jilted when Barry moved his speech from BofA stadium to a smaller venue.
  • BofA got jilted again when DNC moved its banking from BofA to Amalgamated bank.
  • Obama has a long history of incurring heavy campaign costs and stiffing towns that hosted him.
  • Romney and Priebus both run tight and ethical ships


I drew on multiple sources, on both sides of the aisle to put together this aggregation of the impending Demplosion.

Pete, DaTechGuy (see interview), has noted that smart money has been shying away from Democrats for many months – the big donors who want to appear to have backed the winner tend to donate to both parties, but try to anticipate the direction of the “market” and donate more to the probable winner. Pete points out that the bad numbers are for SEPTEMBER, before the debate debacle ate further into their viability.

Robert Stacy (The Other) McCain, is a real journalist who has frequently picked up on a challenger about to break out, and on campaigns about to implode. He has a finely tuned sense of the fortunes of a campaign, and can usually tell you exactly who is rising, who is in trouble and why. He called the breakouts of Cain and Santorum weeks in advance, and he called the collapse of the Perry and Gingrich campaigns long before the aroma of burned toast wafted forth from their HQs. Now, he is comparing the burn rate of the OFA/DNC apparatus with their fundraising and increasing debts, and calling them severely damaged, if not completely toast, YET.
Lets go through those bullets:

  • Obama for America borrowing $15M from crony Buffet’s BofA to pad September numbers.
  • Both the Washington Free Beacon and The Blaze report that, even though the official numbers look good, part of that total hauled in by the Obama campaign is the loan from BofA. You’d obviously read elsewhere the the Obama campaign beat Romney in September fundraising $181M to $171M, but without the loan Romney would be ahead.

  • Obama for America has top-heavy organization, unsustainable burn rate.
  • So, what did Stacy’s finely tuned campaign BS detector notice that others aren’t reporting? In his article last month, Stacy noted:

    Ever since May, we’ve seen the Democrats burning through campaign cash faster than they can bring it in. The Obama campaign has built a very expensive infrastructure, with high fixed costs for staff salaries, and they launched an early ad blitz this summer in key swing states, at a time when the Romney campaign was hoarding its resources in preparation for the fall season.

  • DNC borrowing from SEIU’s Amalgamated Bank for the SECOND month, total $15M, to cover shortfalls.
  • In August and September, according to research by the Washington Free Beacon, the DNC borrowed $8M and $7M respectively from Amalgamated Bank, a number which just happens to match the loss they incurred on the Democrat National Convention (they spent more than projected, like Dems always do). Yet, in spite of this borrowing….

  • DNC cash on hand less than $5M, liabilities of around $20M.
  • Things are not looking pretty at the DNC, so much so that even Politico felt obliged to report on the situation:

    The DNC raised $20.3 million in September, including the loans, and only $3.7 million of its total fundraising came from individuals and political action committees. The rest came from transfers and offsetting operating expenditures.
    As of Sept. 30, the DNC reported having $4.6 million in the bank and $20.5 million in total debt – almost double the $11.8 million it owed at the end of August. The committee owes about $5.5 million of its total debt to creditors for services such as direct mail consulting, polling expenses and event consulting.
    The RNC by comparison announced it raised $48.4 million in September and had a whopping $82.6 million in its reserves.(emphasis mine)

  • BofA contributed $20M to the Democrat National Convention, but got jilted when Barry moved his speech from BofA stadium to a smaller venue.
  • You’ve all heard the story of the big outside venue for Obama’s acceptance speech at the DNC, and how they simply couldn’t round up enough supporters to fill it, and abruptly blamed weather as the reason for moving the speech indoors. That outside venue? BANK of AMERICA STADIUM! Never assume that Democrats will honor a quid pro quo.

  • BofA got jilted again when DNC moved its banking from BofA to Amalgamated bank. (H/T Washington Free Beacon)
  • Yup. Just before Barry left BofA stadium in the lurch, Dear Debbie moved the DNC’s accounts from BofA to the SEIU’s Amalgamated Bank:

    In August, the DNC “moved its primary banking relationship” to Amalgamated Bank from Bank of America.
    DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz hailed the transition, and noted the longstanding political and financial ties between the two organizations.
    The committee, she said, had a “fiduciary responsibility to those who invest in our party.” (meaning the SEIU)

  • Obama has a long history of incurring heavy campaign costs and stiffing towns that hosted him.
  • We here in NH will remember the fuss when Durham refused to absorb the cost of a campaign visit by team Obama, but it wasn’t just NH, it was a national pattern, widely reported, as in this article at Race 4 2012.

  • How does the RNC compare?
  • Over at National Review, Jim Geraghty has these quotes from Reince Priebus:

    Today Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus announced the RNC raised $48.4 million in September and had $82.6 million cash on hand at the end of the month.
    “The overwhelming support for the Romney-Ryan ticket has produced yet another impressive month for RNC fundraising,” said RNC Chairman Priebus. “We are proud to have raised over $48 million in September, with 97 percent of donations to the RNC coming in amounts of $200 or less.
    “While we continue to put money into our ground game and fully fund our absentee ballot, early vote and Election Day GOTV efforts in all our battleground states, our historic cash on hand figure also allows us to continue funding our independent expenditure committee, run highly effective hybrid ads and assist in electing Republicans across the country at all levels.”

    When Jim Geraghty asked one of his RNC folks whether the aim was to spend just about all of the $82.6 million by Election Day, he was told, “We raise it, to spend it, to win.” (emphasis mine)
    Let me juxtapose this Priebus quote captured by Stacy McCain last month:

    DAYTON, Ohio — Reporters circled around Reince Priebus at a campaign rally Monday in Lima and one asked the Republican National Committee chairman what he thought of polls showing Mitt Romney trailing President Obama in this crucial battleground state. Priebus said he was satisfied that the GOP challenger was “within a field goal” of the incumbent, and made a bold prediction: “We’re going to outspend the DNC 10-to-1 [in Ohio] for the next six weeks… We’re going to crush ’em on the ground.” [Editorial comment – Doesn’t look so much like bluster, now, does it?]

    And finally, Jim Geraghty’s words of wisdom for vendors to the DNC, assuming they don’t want to become involuntary donors: “Attention, vendors: Stop falling for this, make Debbie pay you in cash.”

  • And how is the Romney campaign handling themselves?
  • This Quote from the Race 4 2012 article speaks volumes:

    Long before his big rally at the Falls’ Natatorium, Romney’s campaign folks contacted the city, said they’d like to stage an event there and promised to pay for any extra expenses the city would incur.
    Romney’s people asked the Falls to come up with an invoice, and said the invoice could be adjusted upward if unforeseen expenses cropped up.

    What about loans? Did the Romney campaign borrow any money? Why, yes they did – earlier in the summer, the Romney campaign borrowed about $20M, but the difference is that by September, all but about $5M was paid back!

    So, to summarize – the DNC is bankrupt, but hasn’t admitted it. Obama for America and the DNC have loans of $15M each with due dates after the election, and no thought of what happens if they lose. They owe towns and vendors millions of dollars more, and some of those creditors will never see a penny, kinda like the secured creditors in GM and Chrysler!
    On the other hand, Mitt and the RNC are flush with cash, saving the best for last. They have vowed, and are ready, to pound the Democrats on the ground and in the air(waves), and their fundraising is still picking up steam, with Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul noting that online contributions in the first two weeks of October have been higher than any prior whole month! (And the Romney campaign website does not take foreign donations, either.)

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