Politico: Obama, McCain Funds ‘Equal’

From those shameless re-writers of history at the Politico:

Obama, McCain funds equally matched

By JEANNE CUMMINGS | 12/5/08

Barack Obama’s financial advantage over Republican rival John McCain shrunk significantly in the final days of the campaign, new financial disclosure records show.

According to the reports released by the Federal Election Commission Friday, the president-elect raised nearly $111 million between Oct. 16 and Nov. 24.

While that sum is staggering, the Republican National Committee raised $81 million during the same period. And McCain, who could not collect private donations because he accepted taxpayer money to finance his general election, entered the final sprint with about $25 million in the cash.

That suggests a far more equally matched showdown that many observers expected.

The figures also demonstrate how successfully McCain was able to stretch his $85 million general election allotment into a much richer campaign kitty that could stay competitive with Obama’s fundraising apparatus.

Between Oct. 16 and the end of November, Obama reported spending $136 million, of which $62 million was on media buys alone.

McCain and the RNC spent about $105 million on the presidential campaign during the same period, the bulk of which were media buys made by the RNC in conjunction with or on behalf of the McCain-Palin ticket.

Obama managed to maintain an important, if not dramatic, advantage largely because of cash accumulated throughout the 2008 campaign season and his ability to sustain a red hot fundraising pace.

He began the final sprint with $66 million already in the bank and recorded only two days during the period covered by the report on which he failed to raise a million dollars or more.

In the eight days leading to Election Day, Obama saw $20 million in donations pour into his coffers. He ended the race with $30 million still in the bank.

Overall, Obama first post-election report shows that the once little-known Illinois senator raised a total of $770 million for the campaign, the records show.

Of that, nearly $750 million came from nearly 4 million donors, according to the campaign.

What a preposterous headline. What a preposterous article.

Does the Politico really believe that $81 million "matches" $111 million? If so, then they can give us the $30 million dollar (38%) difference.

Oh, and never mind this article from Bloomberg:

Obama Spent Four Times as Much as McCain at Race End

By Jonathan D. Salant and Kristin Jensen

Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) — Barack Obama’s record-breaking fundraising gave him four times as much cash to spend as rival John McCain in the final months of the presidential campaign.

Obama brought in $291 million between Sept. 1 and Nov. 24 and spent $349 million, helped by funds left over from a primary battle that began in February 2007, his campaign said. McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, spent $78.9 million of the $84.1 million he received in public financing.

The president-elect shattered fundraising records, with donations of $746 million for the primary and general campaigns. Obama previously reported raising $642 million through Oct. 15. The campaigns reported their final totals yesterday to the Federal Election Commission…

But forget such facts, the intent of this absurd revisionism from Politico is like that of any number of similar articles that have since come out.

As the Politico declares:

That suggests a far more equally matched showdown that many observers expected.

Forget all of those stories about what a wonderful fundraiser Mr. Obama was. How that showed how popular he was. This is the new media mantra.

Never mind that Mr. Obama broke his word and refused public financing and spent more than three quarters of a billion dollars on his election. (The latest number is $777 million.)

Never mind that Barack Obama raised and spent twice the amount that John McCain did. 

Never mind that there has never been such a wide disparity between the spending of the two major parties’ Presidential candidates in our country’s history.

None of that means Mr. Obama "bought" the election. Put that right out of your thoughts.

Only Republicans buy elections.