Do The Math

The Strib declares "Bush fundraising edge not what it was" in an article reprinted from the LA Times this morning.

Let's look this over. The lede says:

President Bush's once-insurmountable cash advantage over Democrat John Kerry has dwindled in the wake of record spending by Bush and unexpected fundraising success by Kerry.

Wow! Sounds pretty bad for the President, doesn't it? That plucky underdog Kerry is sure giving those rich conservatives what-for, isn't he?

Let's look this over.

Next, the article tells us:

Figures provided by the campaigns Thursday show that, although Bush's reelection campaign is continuing to shatter fundraising records -- it passed the $200 million mark in April -- Kerry has raised $32 million more than the president in the past two months and has now collected $115 million through April.

Right. So in terms of money available that means...:

Bush now has $72 million, compared with $28 million for the presumptive Democratic nominee. At the end of last year, Kerry was so short of cash that he loaned his campaign $6 million by taking out a mortgage on his family's Boston home.

Right. But then Howard Dean flamed out and the real campaign began.

But that's not important, is it?

Posted by Mitch at May 21, 2004 06:47 AM