Financial Friday: January Spending

I realize I’m a bit behind on discussing the January numbers, considering tomorrow is the 1st of March. The numbers are still very interesting, though, and give us an idea about how February went, although candidates haven’t disclosed their February fundraising or spending yet and the FEC hasn’t gone through that information to release it, either.

The Democrats

January was a brilliant fundraising month for Barack Obama. He brought in just over $36 million — almost double Hillary Clinton’s $18.8 million. Clinton is running at a deficit on her campaign — her January spending was a total of $27.6 million ($9 million more than she brought in). There’s only four days until she’ll know whether that push was worth. Clinton basically has to win big in Texas on March 4, and she needs Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island to a lesser degree. If she doesn’t do well in those four states, her spending will have been ineffective. Obama spent $29.7 million and seems to be getting a fair amount of momentum for his money.

The Republicans

The clear front runner is John McCain, who is still struggling with spending caps. In January, he raised $12.6 million and spent $10.3 million. If the FEC does not allow McCain to withdraw from public financing, he will be unable to spend any money during the late spring and early summer, effectively letting the Democratic nominee get a head start on campaigning for the general election. Despite the mathematical impossibility of either Ron Paul or Mike Huckabee to pick up enough delegates to win the nomination, both remain in the game on fundraising: in January, $4.4 million was donated to Paul’s campaign and $3.9 million went to Huckabee. They may not have the finances of McCain, but both are still in a respectable position.