Early $13.1 Million Fundraising Report Looks Big Time — Unless You’re McCain
By Greg Giroux, CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY
April 19, 2007
A report of $13.1 million in campaign receipts in the first quarter of the election cycle is the stuff dreams are made of for most of the 2008 presidential contenders.
Yet for Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who reported that total, the fundraising figures for the first three months were widely reported as a setback. Even McCain pronounced himself disappointed with his early fundraising results.
The reason is that his $13.1 million take, though healthy-looking in isolation, placed him a distant third among Republican candidates, behind rivals who with McCain make up the current top tier in presidential preference polls of Republican voters: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
McCain — who gave eventual winner George W. Bush his stronger competition in the 2000 Republican presidential nominating contest — has financial problems beyond his lagging receipts. He also spent a greater share of his receipts than any other major candidate, according to his campaign’s filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) before last Sunday’s deadline.
McCain’s campaign spent $9.6 million of the $14.8 million it collected since he launched his presidential fundraising committee last November. That left McCain with $5.2 million cash on hand as April began, a relatively meager figure among the top-tier candidates. His campaign also had $1.8 million in debts.
McCain’s campaign said it is revamping its fundraising operations to adjust to the realities of modern presidential campaigns.
The good news for McCain is that his fundraising report evidences some broad appeal. McCain’s campaign collected money from individuals from all walks of life, including top executives at businesses that are household names.
This profile of McCain’s first-quarter report is the latest in a CQPolitics.com series this week that examines the fundraising activity of all Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.
Arizona Sen. John McCain
• Receipts, Jan. 1 to March 31: $13.1 million
• Receipts to date: $14.8 million
• Expenditures, Jan. 1 to March 31: $8.4 million
• Expenditures to date: $9.6 million
• Cash-on-hand, March 31: $5.2 million
• Debts, March 31: $1.8 million
Notable individual donors (who are allowed to contribute $2,300 to a candidate for a primary campaign and $2,300 for a general election campaign)
• Colleen Barrett, president of Southwest Airlines: $2,300
• Richard L. Boals, president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona: $2,300
• Charles F. Dolan, chairman of Cablevision Systems Corp.: $2,100
• Georgia Frontiere, chief executive officer of the St. Louis Rams football team: $2,300
• J. Frank Harrison, chairman and chief executive officer of Coca-Cola Consolidated: $1,000
• Keno Hawker, mayor of Mesa, Ariz.: $500
• Stephen Jones, chief executive officer of the Dallas Cowboys football team: $2,300
• Herbert D. Kelleher, chairman of Southwest Airlines: $2,300
• Kirk Kerkorian, chief executive officer of Tracinda Corp.: $2,300
• Terry Lanni, chairman and chief executive officer of MGM Mirage: $2,100
• Tom Loeffler, a former House member from Texas (1979-87) and a top adviser to McCain’s presidential campaign: $2,300
• Dan Mattoon, president of Mattoon and Associates: $2,300
• Lorne Michaels, executive producer of the NBC comedy program “Saturday Night Live”: $1,000
• Doug Parker, chief executive officer of U.S. Airways: $2,300
• Richard North Patterson, novelist: $1,000
• Peter G. Peterson, senior chairman of The Blackstone Group and a former Commerce secretary to President Richard M. Nixon: $2,300
• Ed Rogers, chairman of the lobbying firm Barbour, Griffith and Rogers: $2,300
• Charles R. Schwab, chief executive officer of Charles Schwab Corp.: $2,300
• Ivan Seidenberg, chief executive officer of Verizon: $2,100
• Kevin W. Sharer, president and chief executive officer of Amgen: $2,300
• Harry Sloan, chairman and chief executive officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: $4,600
• Fred Smith, chairman, president and chief executive officer of FedEx Corporation: $2,300
• Ken Thompson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Wachovia Corporation: $2,300
• Steve Van Andel, chairman of Alticor: $2,100
• Edward E. Whitacre Jr., chairman of the board and chief executive officer of SBC Communications Inc.: $2,300
Candidate committees and political action committees (PACs)
McCain received $295,000 in first-quarter contributions from political action committees, including some linked to House Republicans. Florida Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart were among the House members who donated to McCain’s campaign from their own campaign organizations.
Former Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine (1995-2007), a McCain friend and political ally who was defeated for re-election in 2006, donated $5,000 through his political committee, Ohio’s 17 Star PAC. Former Sen. Phil Gramm (1985-2002), whom McCain endorsed for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996, also gave to McCain through Gramm’s still-open Senate campaign committee.
Another McCain ally in the Senate is Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who gave $5,000 via his political committee, Fund for America’s Future. Richard M. Burr, who represents neighboring North Carolina in the Senate, gave $5,000 through his political committee, Next Century Fund.
Arizona officials who donated to McCain’s campaign through political committees included Jon Kyl, who holds the state’s other Senate seat, and Rick Renzi, who represents the state’s 1st Congressional District.
Notable expenditures
McCain’s campaign reported spending nearly $1.6 million on staff salaries to more than 140 individuals. Another $851,000 went to payroll taxes, and McCain’s operation also spent $440,000 on get-out-the-vote consulting to a number of firms and individuals. Other large expenses included $921,000 on postage; $645,000 on fundraising consulting; $310,000 to purchase equipment; and $307,000 for fundraising phone calls.
© 2006 Congressional Quarterly |
