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Patriot Room: McCain and Obama Nearly Even in Polls, Obama’s Fundraising Is Dropping “Like a Stone”

By SusanUnPC on October 24, 2008 at 2:30 PM in Barack Obama, Campaigns & Campaign Financing, John McCain

Hey, I could paraphrase the Patriot Room’s report, but why should I? They do it perfectly (and h/t to Bud White for sending me the link):

Shocker: Obama Fundraising Drops Like a Stone – Campaign Cash Essentially Even

From ABC.

Barack Obama and John McCain enter the final days of the presidential campaign amid dwindling reserves, with Obama hindered by a sudden drop in fundraising and McCain restrained by spending limits.

As Larry Johnson has noted, the Obama campaign and supporters may be celebrating just a little bit toooooooo soon. So confident are they, that they’ve put their credit cards away. (But don’t tell THEM that.) Heh. Read on:

Obama, the Democratic nominee, spent more than $105 million during the first two weeks of October, according to new campaign finance reports. He reported raising only $36 million for his campaign during that period, about half the fundraising pace he enjoyed in September.

The Illinois senator shattered records and dumbfounded Republicans and Democrats by raising $150 million in September. Obama could still do better in October. His more recent report showed he had taken no share from a joint Obama-Democratic Party victory fund that raised about $27 million during the same October period.

But with the election 11 days away, both Obama and McCain, the Republican nominee, are operating with diminishing funds.

And how much is that? You have to look at the numbers because ABC won’t do a side-by-side or any analysis of what it means. Fortunately, that’s where we come in.

Obama had nearly $66 million in the bank at the end of the two week period and debts of about $2.3 million. The Democratic National Committee and the joint victory fund reported combined cash on hand of $31 million.

McCain and the Republican National Committee reported having a combined $84 million as of last week to spend before Election Day.

That’s $94.7 million for Obama and $84 million for Mac. And look at Obama’s staggering burn rate. he spent $105 million in two weeks. McCain got less than that in matching funds for the entire general election. If you figure that throughout this campaign Obama had to outspend Hillary by margins of 2:1, 3:1, or 4:1, and still didn’t win a lot of states, who has the real problem here?

Visit Patriot Room, and give them some clicks for writing a great report.

AND (!) stay tuned for a hot story tonight on Obama’s slippery campaign fundraising methods. You will not want to miss it.