Karl Rove [2] has a column at the Journal that takes a look at the impact of money in the presidential race and the result of "the One's" financial advantage. He points out how badly McCain was outspent in some of the red "battleground" states that he went on to lose.
If money talks, we'll likely soon hear the real reason why Barack Obama beat John McCain. Both men and the national parties will report to the Federal Election Commission today how much money they raised in October and November. And what the numbers will probably show is that Mr. Obama outspent Mr. McCain by the biggest margin in history, perhaps a quarter of a billion dollars.
On May 31, as the general election began in earnest, the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee had a combined $47 million in cash, while the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee had a combined $85 million.
Between then and Oct. 15, the Obama/DNC juggernaut raised $658.7 million. I estimate today's reports will show Mr. Obama, the DNC and two other Obama fund-raising vehicles raised an additional $120 million to $140 million in October and November, giving them a total of between $827 million and $847 million in funds for the general election.
Mr. McCain and the RNC spent $550 million in the general election, including the $84 million in public financing Mr. McCain accepted in exchange for his campaign not raising money after the GOP convention.
How did Mr. Obama use his massive spending advantage?
He buried Mr. McCain on TV. Nielsen, the audience measurement firm, reports that between June and Election Day, Mr. Obama had a 3-to-2 advantage over Mr. McCain on network TV buys. And Mr. Obama's edge was likely larger on local cable TV, which Nielsen doesn't monitor.
A state-by-state analysis confirms the Obama advantage. Mr. Obama outspent Mr. McCain in Indiana nearly 7 to 1, in Virginia by more than 4 to 1, in Ohio by almost 2 to 1 and in North Carolina by nearly 3 to 2. Mr. Obama carried all four states.
Just remember to point this out next time you hear anyone talking about how those "red" states have turned "blue" because of anything other than O's financial advantage. (Looks like less of a "mandate for change" than a mandate for better GOP fundraising).
Rove also points out the irony that McCain (the campaign finance reform guy) was bitten by the rules he helped put in place. That's true.
He goes on to suggest that the system of public financing for presidential campaigns (put in place after Watergate) is now dead...(good riddance)... And that this is a great opportunity to get rid of individual campaign contribution limits all-together and just require transparency and more frequent (and online) reportage. Sounds fine to me.
If only the current president that he used to work for hadn't signed the awful bill into law - and vetoed it like conservatives wanted.
