Cash-Strapped Obama Turns Down Dem Senators

Sen. Barack Obama has turned down a request from the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee to help Democrats increase their majority in the Senate in the fall elections. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) asked Obama to share some of the money he has raised for the presidential campaign with Democratic Senate candidates in states with closely contested races. But Obama, who decided in the spring to forgo public financing of his presidential bid, becoming the first candidate to do so, cannot afford to let go of any of his campaign's resources. This is especially true now that he trails Sen. John McCain in national polling and will need to advertise heavily to try and catch up.

Earlier this week, the Obama campaign announced that it raised $66 million in the month of August. That figure was hailed as a record for a single month in many media accounts. But left out of the analysis is the amount of money that Obama had to spend to raise that cash, known as the burn rate. At the end of July, the campaign reported having cash-on-hand of $66 million. Add in the $66 million the campaign raised in August, and the campaign would have $132 million available if it spent nothing. But the Obama campaign reported having $77 million in the bank at the end of August, meaning that it spent $55 million during that time frame. In other words, the campaign spent 83% of what it raised in August, netting only $11 million of that record total.

The McCain campaign predicted in a strategy memo in July that Sen. Obama would have to raise $200 million, $100 million in each of the two months of the general election, to keep pace with Republicans. Obama's $66 million in August falls well short of that mark, creating a dilemma not only for Obama, but for Democrats nationally. The presidential candidate usually devotes at least some of his time on the campaign trail to stumping for House and Senate candidates in close races. But Obama's private financing decision forces him to spend almost all of his fund raising time on his own campaign, decreasing opportunities for him to get his message out in swing states, and decreasing the chances of significant gains for Democrats in House and Senate races.