Obama Controls Most of His Money as Republicans Have More
Not every political dollar carries the same value, and by one measure the Republicans’ financial edge in the presidential race is less formidable than it appears.
Entering September, Mitt Romney, the Republican National Committee and two sympathetic super-political action committees had $165 million in cash — and the former Massachusetts governor had direct control over less than a third of it, or $50 million.
President Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee, and a friendly super-political action committee had $101 million in the bank — and Obama controlled almost 90 percent of it, or $89 million.
“At this point, control of the money becomes important,” said Anthony Corrado, a campaign finance expert at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. “We are at the stage where Romney has to focus on why he is capable of serving as president and what he would do if elected. Selling his policies depends more on the amount of money the campaign has rather than super-PACs.”
Romney is far better off than Arizona Senator John McCain was in 2008, when Obama outspent the Republican $730 million to $333 million, and the Republicans’ financial advantage may still influence House and Senate races. In the presidential race, though, both sides have “plenty of money,” former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said in a Sept. 21 interview on “Political Capital with Al Hunt.” If one side gains an edge, it will be measured by how well it can and does spend those resources — a more complicated endeavor for Romney because he can’t legally coordinate with the two main super-PACs backing his candidacy.
