Tag: campaign spending

Jeb Bush Loaned His Campaign $407,000 in Final Days

Buck Banks

$407,000

Amount former Florida governor Jeb Bush loaned or gave his campaign as it struggled to pay its bills in the last weeks of his flagging presidential bid, the Washington Post reports. “New Federal Election Commission filings show that Bush’s campaign spent $3.6 million last month before he dropped out Feb. 20 — raising just $1.18 million in the same period. A large share of the money came from the candidate himself, who gave his campaign $56,983.50 on Feb. 1. The next day, he loaned the campaign $250,000. And on Feb. 16, four days before the South Carolina primary, he gave an additional $100,000.”

Outside Groups Start Spending to Stop Trump

Buck Banks

$10 million

Amount outside groups are moving to deploy “in new attack ads across Florida and millions more in Illinois, casting Mr. Trump as a liberal, a huckster and a draft dodger. Mr. Trump’s reed-thin organization appears to be catching up with him, suggesting he could be at a disadvantage if he is forced into a protracted slog for delegates,” the New York Times reports. Politico: “The goal, according to people familiar with the effort, has been to assemble as much as $25 million to spend against the New York businessman before March 15.”

Ben Carson Raised More than His Opponents and Blew It on Consultants

Buck Banks

$58 million

Amount Ben Carson’s failed presidential campaign raised — more than any other GOP contender. “But Carson’s campaign burned through much more of that money on fundraising and consultants than on mass media advertising, on-the-ground employees and other things that could have swayed voters. … Ben Carson ran for president, and his consultants won,” the AP reports.

Trump Spent More on Hats than Consultants

Buck Banks

$450,000

Amount Donald Trump spent last quarter on his iconic hats bearing the campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” “That’s more money than the campaign paid its data vendor L2 (which received $235,000 for “research consulting”) or than it spent on strategy consulting ($281,000). It’s almost as much as the campaign spent on field consulting ($551,000) or payroll ($518,000). Trump’s campaign did spend $793,000 on expenses related to the mega-rallies that have become his campaign’s hallmarks, as well as $459,000 on expenses related to having his name appear on primary election ballots,” according to Ken Vogel in Politico.

Iowa not so Super for Super PACs

Buck Banks

$26.6 million

Amount super PACs have spent on the Republican primary in Iowa — with minimal effect, the Des Moines Register reports. “The groups, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on behalf of candidates, have spent $26.6 million to benefit candidates’ Iowa campaigns through Dec. 12. But many of them have little to show for their investment. … More than a third of that money has gone to support candidates who have dropped out of the race, and another third has gone to support former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican who is polling in single digits.”

Bush Super PAC Spending But Not Receiving Money

Buck Banks

$50 million

“The super PAC supporting Jeb Bush is racing through its massive war chest much faster than money is coming in, spending close to $50 million in a record blitz that has so far failed to lift the former Florida governor’s sputtering presidential candidacy,” the Washington Post reports. “The group, Right to Rise, has already gone through nearly half of the $103 million it brought in during the first half of the year, records show. It raised only about $13 million in the five months that followed, according to a person familiar with the figure.”