Fundraising and spending as the campaign nears its end by Adam Kirsch

In just a few days, this election, which started almost two years ago, will finally come to a close. When it’s all over, there will be a number of things examined, and speculated upon. One of these subjects will be the money raised and spent by the campaigns for this election cycle.

This election has seen fundraising records shattered, and the greatest level of disparity in the amount of money spent by two opposing campaigns in terms of ad buys and ground game in history. Barack Obama raised more than $150 million in September alone, a new record. As of mid-October, Barack Obama had raised nearly $650 million since the beginning of his campaign, to John McCain’s $370 million.

‘Ground game’ is the collective term for the networks of volunteers each campaign has organized in each state around the country. The networks generally consist of a state headquarters and local offices spread among targeted counties. While these offices are almost entirely staffed by volunteers, some positions are paid for by the campaigns. Those occupying these positions are usually professionals in political organization, and have taken these positions as full-time jobs during the campaign. The money a campaign has available affects the number of these professionals that can be hired. Additionally, money effects the number of offices that can be opened (rental costs, utility costs), and the amount of equipment that can be purchased and installed in these offices (phones, computers, etc.). The Obama campaign has a huge monetary advantage, and it is shown in their superior number of paid workers and offices. This is in addition to a lopsided numbers of volunteers working for the Obama campaign.

The Obama campaign’s monetary advantage also affects advertising. Obama’s 30 minute infomercial, which aired on seven television networks on Wednesday night, is a good example of this. This ad buy, in the end, will likely have cost a total of $5,000,000. The Obama campaign can afford to spend this kind of money, and blanket every state they desire with daily advertising. Today, Obama even bought ad time in Arizona, John McCain’s home state. He is not likely to win there (despite a slimming polling margin for John McCain), but the message it sends is more important. Obama can afford to put money here, whereas the McCain campaign has to keep its advertising targeted to where it can do the most possible good, because they only have so much to work with. Since the conventions, Obama has outspent McCain in advertising, $205,000,000 to $119,000,000.