Is Bernie’s Cash Cow Going Dry?
Fundraising down by 40% in April.
Bernie Sanders has raised a ton of cash in the 2016 primary season. Progressive grassroots activists making small donations have even put Sanders ahead of Clinton in recent months but the pace is slowing.
The New York Times reports:
Bernie Sanders’s Fund-Raising Plunges Amid Campaign Woes
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont raised just $25.8 million for his campaign in April, down by more than 40 percent from the previous month, as he faces an increasingly narrow path in the race for the Democratic nomination for president.
The April total, released by his campaign on Sunday, brought Mr. Sanders’s cumulative fund-raising haul to $210 million from more than 2.4 million donors.
He raised almost $46 million in March, his best month yet in a contest during which he has frequently brought in more money than his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Earlier this week, Mr. Sanders revealed in an interview that he would be laying off some 255 workers, saying he would focus his resources on competing in the remaining 14 contests, particularly in California.
Mr. Sanders has faced questions about how much he can continue to raise as Mrs. Clinton has pulled farther ahead in the competition for Democratic delegates. But he is continuing to bring in large sums of money from donors making small gifts: 540,000 people contributed in April, the campaign said.
Sanders hasn’t been stingy with his money. In fact, he’s spent more than any other candidate so far in 2016.
From the Washington Post:
Sanders is biggest spender of 2016 so far — generating millions for consultants
The small-dollar fundraising juggernaut that has kept Bernie Sanders’s insurgent White House bid afloat far longer than anticipated has generated another unexpected impact: a financial windfall for his team of Washington consultants.
By the end of March, the self-described democratic socialist senator from Vermont had spent nearly $166 million on his campaign — more than any other 2016 presidential contender, including rival Hillary Clinton. More than $91 million went to a small group of admakers and media buyers who produced a swarm of commercials and placed them on television, radio and online, according to a Washington Post analysis of Federal Election Commission reports.
While the vast majority of that money was passed along to television stations and websites to pay for the advertising, millions in fees were kept by the companies, The Post calculated. While it is impossible to determine precisely how much the top consultants have earned, FEC filings indicate the top three media firms have reaped payments of seven figures.
Interesting behavior for a man who claims he wants big money out of politics.
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Comments
Gee, you’d think a socialist would balk at spending that kind of money to promote himself.
Or not.
Maw says cows go dry when they’re about to make baby cows. But Paw says that its because that fool dog barks all night. I say that dog’s no fool we don’t want to sleep outside with the goats and pigs neither. So we let Ringo in the house, he stops barking, and sure enough Buttercup’s got milk again.
Obviously I’m assuming the cow is literal, not metaphorical. If its just a political analogy then I have no idea.