Obama Maintains Money Lead as Grassroots Support Continues Strong

There are a few indicators in the sidebar race for money in this year’s Presidential Election. March numbers show Obama maintaining a blistering pace at $30 million – though down from $55 million in February. Clinton comes in at an estimated $20 million and still at a clear disadvantage. If money is free speech, then voters have been shouting loud and clear for some time now.

For Hillary, her debt is starting to become ominous. If she paid off her estimated $9 million in debt to vendors she’s been stiffing in state after state, then she only will show roughly half of that $20 million and look vulnerable. If she doesn’t pay them off and she loses the nomination (which she will), she then has to raise money to pay the debt off and then turn around and raise enough to defend her Senate seat in New York which will undoubtedly be targeted after the NY scandal within the party and her ties to Spitzer.

So she’s not only fracturing the party by refusing to face the fact that she can’t win the nomination, but she’s endangering her Senate seat as well.

I don’t have a problem with debt, especially when running a big campaign. It happens and it perfectly normal. It’s the level of debt versus what a campaign has show an ability to bring in that worries me here. To have your debt be half as much as what you take in for a given month is pretty rough. Obama, on the other hand took in $30 million and was carrying about $600,000 in debt. That’s not a bad ratio and is certainly manageable.