Short of Cash, Clinton Is Forced to Cut Spending

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Short of Cash, Clinton Is Forced to Cut Spending
By PATRICK HEALY and MICHAEL LUO
Published: May 9, 2008


(Stephen Crowley/NYT)
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton at a rally on Thursday in West Virginia, one of six remaining states with primary contests.

The once-formidable fund-raising machine of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun to sputter at the worst possible moment for Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign, Clinton advisers and donors said Thursday, with spending curtailed on political events and advertising as Mrs. Clinton seeks to compete in the last six nominating contests.

Mrs. Clinton’s diminished political momentum, following Tuesday’s loss in the North Carolina primary and her narrow victory in Indiana, appears to have had a dampening effect on her fund-raising, aides said, increasing the likelihood that Mrs. Clinton will lend her campaign more of her own money beyond the $11 million she has already provided. Clinton advisers said Mrs. Clinton was committed to spending more of her own cash on the campaign if necessary, although they spoke optimistically about a rise in fund-raising if she prevails in Tuesday’s primary in West Virginia.

The campaign is clearly running low on cash, although advisers would not say how much money — or how little — Mrs. Clinton currently has. The campaign had started April with over $10 million in unpaid debts, and Mrs. Clinton was vastly outspent by Senator Barack Obama in North Carolina and Indiana. Some advisers to Mrs. Clinton said that the debt had grown significantly, especially because of the high cost of competing and advertising in the Pennsylvania primary last month, but they could not give a precise figure.

Mrs. Clinton had been increasingly relying on Internet donations this spring from new and small-amount contributors; the day after she won the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, the campaign brought in a record $10 million online. But Hassan Nemazee, one of Mrs. Clinton’s national finance chairmen, put the amount she collected online in the 24 hours after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries at only “$1 million-plus.” Phil Singer, a spokesman for the campaign, declined to confirm Mr. Nemazee’s figures, saying only that the campaign had raised in the “seven figures” online, as well as at a Washington fund-raiser on Wednesday night.

Clinton advisers said they were looking for opportunities to save money on campaign events in the coming primary states of West Virginia, Kentucky and Oregon. The advisers said events would be more frill-free, but they also said that the campaign was likely to go deeper into debt to vendors who design and produce her events. On the bright side for Mrs. Clinton, West Virginia and Kentucky are not expensive media markets for advertising, but Mr. Obama has already begun broadcasting advertisements in those states....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/us/politics/09clinton.html?pagewanted=all

[kirby]

1. If she manages her campaign this poorly...

I shudder to think how she will manage the country.

[DB1]

2. I wonder how many small business supporters will be left with the tab?

[Psephos]

3. The original Clinton campaign of '92 sublet office space from me and took 3 years to pay

And he actually won.

I still have a copy of the check, which I never thought I'd see. Took a lot of letter-writing and phone-calling.

Anyone who does business with HRC better do it on a cash basis.

[DB1]

5. Nasty record. Kinda what I expected. Entitlement persona.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

4. Funny how it works

Creativity I mean.You can have sooo much money yet not a original idea even to save your own ass.
Reminds me of the sixties! The way to win is to win! Screw the odds ,screw the ass holes , press on and win! All the way to the convention! Excuse me, I gotta go press my blue collar shirt. That is if there is anything of it left!

[dkf]

6. She's going to put MORE money into this impossible effort?

And we thought George Bush was crazy when he said "Stay The Course"!

Wow. What a crazy woman.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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