Obama Spends Campaign Money as wildly as American Taxpayers’ Dollars

by John Hinderaker in 2012 Presidential Election

Romney Is Flush With Cash,

Poised For Stretch Run

by John Hinderaker   at   PowerLine:

We all knew that Mitt Romney had outraised President Obama over the last few months; many were unaware that Obama’s totals to date were nevertheless far greater than Romney’s ($300 million is the number I’ve seen). What we didn’t know was how much money the campaigns had on hand. Now we know, thanks to today’s FEC filing by the Obama campaign.

The numbers are pretty stunning, and bode well for Mitt Romney. The Obama campaign has been spending money like water. That is partly due to what appears to be an inefficient operation, and partly due to Obama’s attempt to smear Romney before Romney has a chance to introduce himself to voters. The result is that as of the end of July, the Romney campaign had $185.9 million on hand, compared with $123.7 million for the Obama campaign. These totals include the campaigns, their respective national party committees and joint victory funds that raise money for both.

It appears certain that Romney will outraise Obama the rest of the way, which means that from now until Election Day, Romney will have significantly more to spend than Obama. Not only that, his advantage will be increased by what seems to be a more efficient–i.e., cheaper–campaign operation. This chart shows how Romney has overtaken Obama in cash on hand:

So if you want to be optimistic, you could sum up by saying that Romney has absorbed Obama’s best shots; that despite having been considerably outspent to this point, he is even with Obama in the polls; and that from now on, the cash advantage will be his.