McCain to Rely on Party Money Against Obama

[dajoki]

McCain to Rely on Party Money Against Obama
By MICHAEL LUO and MIKE McINTIRE
Published: May 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/us/politics/19donate.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Pivoting toward the general election, Senator Barack Obama is turning again to his history-making fund-raising machine, which helped to anoint him as a contender against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and then became a potent weapon in their battle for the Democratic nomination.

To confront the Obama juggernaut, Senator John McCain, whose fund-raising has badly trailed that of his Democratic counterparts, is leaning on the Republican National Committee. Mr. McCain’s efforts to raise money suffered a blow this weekend when a key fund-raiser, Tom Loeffler, resigned because of a new campaign policy on conflicts of interest.

Mr. McCain is likely to depend upon the party, which finished April with an impressive $40 million in the bank and has significantly higher contribution limits, to an unprecedented degree to power his campaign, Republican officials said.

To that end, Republican officials said they were enlisting President Bush, a formidable fund-raiser who has raised more than $36 million this year for Republican candidates and committees, for three events on Mr. McCain’s behalf. They will appear together at a fund-raiser in Phoenix on May 27, and the next day the president will take part in a luncheon with Mitt Romney in Salt Lake City and then an exclusive dinner at Mr. Romney’s vacation home in Park City, Utah.

The financial arms race that is shaping up is likely to produce the most expensive presidential contest in history and test the commitments that both Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain have made to rein in the influence of money in politics.

[NJmaverick]

1. There is some good news in this

If the RNC is busy having to raise money for McCain, they will not have their full resources for their other endevors, like the Congressional campaigns.

[speedoo]

2. Right. One way to look at this news is that McCain is a financial liability.

He's really a bad candidate who is unable to raise money for a national election.

[dajoki]

4. Yes...

I believe he will be a handicap to the Repubs running down ballot.

[AndyTiedye]

3. McCain Will Rely on the SWIFT BOATERS and all the FREE AIRTIME the MSM Gives Him

The Repiggies don't really have to raise any money at all. They get all the airtime they want for free from the networks.

[dajoki]

6. Hopefully...

this time they will be ready for it, no excuse not to be!!

[lojasmo]

5. Obama raises more every month

than the RNC has in the bank. McCain is going down.