Monday’s political round-up

April 16, 2007

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* We saw the Q1 fundraising totals for the presidential candidates a couple of weeks ago, but those numbers didn’t reflect how much of their coffers the candidates spent and how much cash they have on hand moving forward. Among the Dems, Obama raised the primary money, but Clinton leads the field with $24 million in the bank, followed by Obama with $18 million, Edwards with $9.8 million, Dodd with $7.5 million, Richardson with $5 million, and Biden with $2.8 million. (I couldn’t find Kucinich’s cash on hand; if anyone knows, please add in comments)

* On the other side of the aisle, Romney leads with $11.8 million in the bank, followed by Giuliani with $10.8 million and John McCain with $5.2 million. No other Republican candidate tops the $1 million figure.

* Sen. Joe Lieberman announced late last week that he’s endorsing Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in her 2008 re-election bid and will campaign on her behalf. Lieberman’s PAC has already contributed $5,000 toward Collins’ campaign. As a reminder, Collins endorsed Lieberman after he lost the Democratic nomination to Ned Lamont last year.

* Former Sen. John Breaux (D), whom most expected to be the leading candidate in Louisiana’s gubernatorial race, announced on Friday that he will not run. Breaux reportedly was unclear about his eligibility, after having lived in DC for many years.

* Barack Obama drew 20,000 attendees to a campaign rally in Atlanta yesterday, which locals described as “one of the biggest presidential political rallies in Atlanta’s history, and easily the largest this early in the race — 18 months before the election.” Very impressive.

* And finally, Sen. John Kerry, just a couple of months after declaring that he won’t be a presidential candidate in 2008, hinted yesterday that he might reconsider. In response to a question from a voter at a book signing in Denver, Kerry said he had decided it wasn’t the right time to run again. “Could that change?” Kerry said. “It might. It may change over years. It may change over months. I can’t tell you, but I’ve said very clearly I don’t consider myself out of it forever.” When asked whether he expected that decision to change in time for the 2008 race, Kerry said, “If suddenly the field changed or the dynamics of the nation shifted, who knows? You might look at it differently, but I don’t see that. I don’t foresee that. That’s not where I am today and that’s not what I’m doing.”

That Dodd cash number is surprising. Maybe he will be able to compete at least for a bit.

  • It’s very, very difficult for me to see how circumstances could change in such a way that Kerry would become a viable 2008 candidate, short of something like a terrorist attack on a Democratic presidential debate and then awful things happening to Gore, Clark and various others now on the sidelines.

  • So if I read the USA today article correctly:

    Obama raised $24.8 million for the primary (less than $1 million for the general?), and banked $18 million.
    Hillary raised $19.1 million for the primary ($6.9 million for the general?), and added $10 million from her Senate campaign to bank $24 million.

    Hillary has therefore spent $12 million on her primary campaign, and Obama has spent $7 million?

    Can Hillary’s $10 million from her Senate campaign be spent on the primary?

    If not, she’s looking at $7.1 million in her primary campaing coffers right now, compared to Obama’s $17+ million.

    Even if she can spend the $10 million from the Senate campaign on the primary, she’s got just about the same $17 million as Obama has right now.

    I’m more impressed with Obama every day.

  • Republicans aren’t raising much money because the republican faithful are still figuring that W will find a way to run for a third term.

  • Thanks for the Republican talking points “Dan” (#9) – Since you haven’t been wasting our bandwidth here for so long, I’d forgotten that you’re such a Publick Moron that “Former Dan” had to distinguish himself so he wasn’t mistaken for your line of cockeyed assininity.

    Why don’t you go back to RedState with the other examples of the failure of the home-indoctrination movement, where you belong?

  • Tom Cleaver, you’re my hero.

    Reasonable people can disagree about the merits of John Kerry as a presidential candidate, and I disagree with most of you.

    In any case, I’m quite sure he isn’t planning to run this cycle, and in fact wondered if his comment wasn’t a tongue-in-cheek goad to HRC, who has firmly planted her shiv between Kerry’s shoulderblades more than a few times.

    I’m also pretty sure he’s not thrilled so far with what he’s heard from the candidates on the environment for one big issue, and this is a not-so-veiled challenge: Want my endorsement? Then step up.

    Non-admirers prefer not to notice that Kerry still has a legion of supporters who are not in step with any of the current contenders, myself included. But it’s true. His endorsement will mean something.

  • Thanks, Diane. you just wrote what I was thinking.

    In any case, Kerry said clearly he was not considering running and he is running in MA for reelection.

    The only people who have taken these comments seriously are the RW blogs who cannot stop bashing Kerry, which should tell us that they still consider him as important, thanks god.

    And very sad that we have either trolls or people who are too much ready to repeat RW talking points.

  • Yes Tom, you’re my hero too! It’s wonderful to send you off the deep end by pointing out the obvious. Kerry said he wasn’t going to run. Now he’s changed his mind, and he might. John Kerry gave the Republicans those talking points, he gets to own them. I guess it hurts your feelings that he’s a flip-flopper. It’s just a fact that he is. Deal with it.

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