The Political Money Game

BRYCE ON POLITICS

- Donations suggest popularity.

Click for AUDIO VERSION.

The donations received by political candidates is a strong indicator of their popularity. The more the candidate receives, the stronger their position becomes as it will be used for promotional purposes. The numbers for the last reporting quarter (3rd) to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was recently concluded with some interesting results.

In the case of the Democrat Presidential Candidates, let's look at the Top 10 candidates as reported by the FEC:

CANDIDATE- TOTAL $ RECVD- 3RD QUARTER-

SANDERS, BERNARD $74,516,657.41 $25,300,000

WARREN, ELIZABETH $60,339,946.81 $24,600,000 (1)

BUTTIGIEG, PETE $51,549,046.28 $19,100,000

STEYER, TOM $49,645,131.61 $49,645,131 (2)

BIDEN, JOSEPH R JR $37,785,260.96 $15,700,000 (3)

HARRIS, KAMALA D. $36,940,238.03 $11,700,000

DELANEY, JOHN K. $27,198,228.24 $ 500,000

BOOKER, CORY A. $18,494,484.80 $ 6,000,000

O'ROURKE, ROBERT BETO $18,184,974.91 $ 4,500,000

KLOBUCHAR, AMY J. $17,516,387.53 $ 4,800,000

1. Significant upswing in donations, offsetting former VP Biden, and approaching Sen. Sanders' numbers.

2. 95.9 percent was donated by the candidate personally.

3. Down $7M from last quarter.

Perhaps the most illuminating number, in terms of donations, is that of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's, which picked up considerable steam in the third quarter. While her donations grew rapidly, former VP Joe Biden's numbers have been plummeting, perhaps due to the controversy surrounding his participation in his son's business dealings in the Ukraine and China. Whatever the reason, Sen. Warren has replaced the former VP as the front runner.

Many of the candidates are spending more cash than they receive in donations, particularly Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Kamala Harris, and Sen. Cory Booker. Unless they can get a sudden uptick in popularity and substantial cash infusion, it is just a matter of time before they are forced out of the race.

The donations received by the Democrats pale in comparison to the $165M received thus far by President Trump. This does not include the millions also received by the Republican Party. In fact, the Trump campaign has cash reserves of $83.2M, which is more than the top three Democrat candidates combined. Not only is President Trump getting more donations than the Democrats, it appears his campaign knows how to manage their financial resources better.

More than anything, House Speaker Pelosi's call for an impeachment inquiry triggered a huge response from the president's supporters who donated generously to his re-election campaign. Such a response was anticipated as this accusation galvanized the Republicans to come to the aid of their president. In other words, it could be construed, the call for impeachment is the best thing that could happen to President Trump's re-election.

Interestingly, none of the candidates thus far have asked for money from the Presidential Election Fund as found on our IRS 1040 forms. Maybe they are waiting until the final nominees are announced. If they do not use it though, why are we bothering with it?

No matter how you slice it, all of these donations, be it related to the Democrats or Republicans, is an obnoxious amount of money which we should be using for better things, such as repairing our infrastructure, the war on drugs, paying off the national debt, etc. Instead, it will inevitably go to the news media, thereby compounding our problem with fake news, which I personally regard as ridiculous.

Keep the Faith!

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Copyright © 2019 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.