Did the Obama campaign have a bad June? Geraghty asks:
Is it possible that Obama's decision to forsake public financing was a mistake? Between the Denver convention running low on funds, Hillary's demands for help in retiring her debt, the RNC outraising the DNC five to one, and a steady decline in Obama's donations month-to-month (a tough economy hitting Obama's small donors? The buzz and hype have passed?), is Obama the candidate with the campaign that has to watch its pennies?
It will be deliciously ironic if, after having flipped on the issue, and turning down federal campaign bucks, Obama ends up without enough funds.
It also raises the question of whether he already expanded and staffed-out for a 50-state campaign assuming his existing donation levels would be maintained, and they haven't been.
He might have blown his warchest and annoyed local politicos across the country (whose campaign jobs are about to vanish) in one fell swoop. Interesting...
In the interests of fact gathering, the Obama total was $52M - which is a few million off his all time best and twice what Kerry raised in June 2004.