Where do they spend it all?
Tracking the sources of presidential campaign funding is an important part of understanding the business of politics, but it is equally important to see how candidates are spending what they have received. While thinking about the big-ticket items like national television ads and big rallies, it is easy to forget that campaigns have to spend huge sums on everything from hotel rooms to flower delivery.
Currently, federal law requires that campaign expenses be disclosed to the Federal Election Commission. Both the FEC and non-profit groups like Opensecrets.org make this campaign spending information available to the public.
At the most recent disclosure date, the candidates had spent approximately $265.5 million (far less than they had raised). Of this:
- Media purchases accounted for only 14% of the total! We tend to think that advertising constitutes the greatest expense of a campaign, probably because it is the highest-profile type of purchasing. But it pales in comparison to…
- “Campaign expenses,” which accounted for 19% of expenses. According to Opensecrets.org, “Campaign Expenses” include things like rallies, surveys and other research, and salaries for consultants.
- But by far the biggest type of expense is – Administrative Costs, which accounted for 53% of campaign spending. Administrative Costs are simply the costs required to run the campaign, including things like office rental, staff salaries, travel expenses, food, office equipment, legal fees, etc.
It’s easy to forget the huge number of small expenses that go into keeping a campaign marching forward, and the small army of anonymous staffers who do the vast bulk of the work. So if you are planning on running for president, remember that about half of your income will end up going to campaign administration. And if you donate to presidential campaigns, 50 cents of every dollar you send goes not to glamorous things like attack ads or A-list events, but to copy paper, staples, and pizza for the interns. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing – as Napoleon said, an army marches on its stomach.
