The money race updated, and what the figures don't show.

Last Wednesday was the first deadline for candidates to report to the Federal Election Commission details on how they are raising, and spending their money.

This NY Times article details how much has been raised, spent, and in some instances, where the money is coming from.

As you can see from the table below, while Hillary Clinton has raised the most from direct contributions ($47.5 million), Jeb Bush has raised the most money from outside support (PAC's) with $103 million. 


For those of you that have been following my blog, you can clearly see the disconnect between direct funds raised and PAC money raised, and how this is impacting campaigns.

What the campaign filings don't show is how much the Super PAC's continue to have growing sway.  While these reports do provide an early glimpse at each campaign's financial operations, they promise to tell only part of the story.  These figures do not include any of the money being raised by the "super PACs" and other outside groups supporting many of the candidates.  In many cases, the money raised by these super PAC's will dwarf what the direct campaign brings in.

As we have discussed, some candidates are relying on these groups, which can tap unlimited corporate and individual contributions, so long as they do not coordinate directly with the candidates.  This is a huge departure from past campaigns and has directly led to candidates becoming reliant on a handful of super rich donors.

As you can with the table above, without Super PAC's, Jeb Bush would have raised approximately the same amount as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz in the Republican field.  Instead, the field is clearly separated by those that have the most Super PAC money (and again, this table doesn't show all of it).

Rick Perry offers a perfect example.  The former governor of Texas, who ran a choppy campaign in 2012, has had trouble firing up direct contributions.  Perry is at the bottom of direct money raised. 

However, a few super PAC's have furnished Perry with over $10 million, with most of that money coming from just a handful of super wealthy donors.

With some much power and influence in the hands of a few, watchdog groups (and citizens) continue to be concerned about this growing trend in fund raising.

Book sales figures disputed

While reading one of my favorite presidential campaign blogs, Politico, I stumbled upon a post that led to half a laugh and half a sigh.

If you have been following this story, Ted Cruz, the Republican Senator from Texas who is running for President, has a new book out.

Cruz's book, "A Time for Truth", was released on June 30th.  As most of us are aware, the NY Times posts book bestsellers lists, and this list is considered very prestigious for authors, as it often leads to more books being sold and more exposure.

Cruz, however, is not listed on the NY Times bestseller list, despite racking up impressive sales figures during the books first week since release.

So what happened here?  Dylan Byers of Politico wrote an interesting article on this controversy titled ""Amazon: 'No evidence' of bulk sales for Ted Cruz book".

In this post, Byers provides some compelling evidence backing up Cruz and his argument that the book indeed qualifies to be included in the NY Times best seller list. 

Cruz's book sold 11,854 copies in its first week -- more than 18 of the 20 titles on the Times best-seller list for the week ending July 4, according to Nielsen bookscan. On raw numbers, Cruz's book would have finished at #3 on the Times' influential list of hardcover nonfiction. However, the Times informed HarperCollins last week that Cruz's book would not be on the list.

Both Amazon and Harper Collins (publishers) both back up Cruz and agree the book qualifies, so what's the issue?

The NY Times claims that there has been suspicious activity regarding the book sales, notably that some have been purchased through what is called bulk sales.  In essence, this means that large quantities of the book were purchased by a single (or multiple parties), with the express intent to drive up sales/volume figures, and presumably up the bestseller list.

Cruz, as a fierce conservation Republican is accusing the NY Times of having a political bias.  Many Republicans accuse the NY Times of having a liberal slant, thus, being anti-Republican.

While I am not a huge Ted Cruz fan, it seems to me that the facts are on his side here, and we will have to wait and see if the NY Times revisits their position here.

The lesson in politics, as always, there is always an agenda to pursue.  Cruz, wisely, has been pushing the story in an attempt to shine light on what He perceives as the NY Times agenda and bias.  So far, the Times has been quiet. 

Stay tuned.......................

Do you know your candidates?

Even for those that aren't following the Presidential campaign (despite it still being 17 months away), we already have 16 candidates that have formally declared, and 6 that most likely will declare soon.  As we have covered in previous posts, most of these candidates are pressed to enter due to fund raising concerns, and by waiting too long, they risk being locked out from large donors and the political cash machine.

So, I thought we would do a list of each candidate, with a thumbnail for each (background, claim to fame, etc.) by party (Republican or Democrat), and see if you are able to match the face to each candidate!

These are listed in no particular order.

Republican candidates that have formally declared:

1.)  Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida, son and younger brother of former Presidents.
2.)  Ted Cruz, currently Junior Senator of Texas, born in Canada.
3.)  Rand Paul, currently Junior Senator from Kentucky, son of former Presidential candidate.
4.)  Marco Rubio, currently Junior Senator from Florida, parents immigrated from Cuba.
5.)  Ben Carson, retired surgeon and author.
6.)  Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard, defeated in California Senate race (2010).
7.)  Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas, and Presidential Candidate in 2012.
8.)  Rick Santorum, former Senator of Pennsylvania, and Presidential Candidate in 2012.
9.)  George Pataki, former Governor of New York.
10.)  Lindsay Graham, currently Senior Senator from South Carolina.
11.)  Rick Perry, former Governor of Texas, and Presidential Candidate in 2012.
12.)  Donald Trump, Real Estate and Business Executive, television personality.

Republican candidates that most likely will declare:

13.) Scott Walker, current Governor of Wisconsin.
14.) Chris Christie, current Governor of New Jersey.
15.)  Bobby Jindal, current Governor of Louisiana.
16.)  John Kasich, current Governor of Ohio and former Congressman of Buckeye State.

Democratic Candidates that have formally declared:

17.)  Hillary Clinton, former First Lady and former Junior Senator of New York.
18.)  Bernie Sanders, currently junior Senator from Vermont.
19.)  Lincoln Chafee, former Senator and Governor of Rhode Island.
20.)  Martin O'Malley, former Governor of Maryland.

Democratic Candidates that most likely will declare:

21.)  Jim Webb, former Secretary of Navy and Senator of Virginia.
22.)  Joe Biden, current Vice President and former Senator of Delaware.

Now for the quiz - attempt to match each face with the thumbnail attached: 










If you were able to match 15 or more, you are an ace political student and deserve an A.  12-14 is solid B, and for others, well, there are still 17 months to go so plenty of time to study up!