Big Winners In Money Are Barack Obama and Ron Paul

The candidates had until midnight on Sunday to report to the Federal Election Commission all the money they have raised and spent so far in the first quarter. Hillary was the big winner because she transferred ten million from her Senate campaign, giving her a total of 36 million raised. Without Hillary’s Senate money Barack Obama has about the same amount of cash. The difference is Hillary has maxed out many of her donors with the $2300 limit, but Obama’s donors are mostly small cash amounts, so his folks can give again. The big spenders were Republicans with Mitt Romney already spending 11 million, which is about the same as Hillary and Obama combined. John McCain has already spent 8 million, and is 2 million in debt. Another big surprise is Ron Paul who has raised more than Huckabee, Hunter, Thompson, and Gilmore on the Republican side. He has managed to raise most of these funds through basic grassroots campaigning with 100% of it coming from individual contributions. Ron Paul hasn’t spent to much either, so he is building up a good size war chest. One candidate is already in the hole, Democrat Mike Gavel is $88,000 in debt with only $498.00 in his bank account. Sounds like me. He is also the only candidate to spend more than he has raised. For the figures from all the candidates click here.
Alan Cosgrove