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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Obama has held more re-election fundraisers than previous five Presidents
combined as he visits key swing states on 'permanent campaign'
By Toby Harnden
PUBLISHED: 07:41 EST, 29 April 2012 | UPDATED: 14:16 EST, 29 April 2012
Barack Obama has already held more re-election fundraising events than every
elected president since Richard Nixon combined, according to figures to be
published in a new book.
Obama is also the only president in the past 35 years to visit every
electoral battleground state in his first year of office.
The figures, contained a in a new book called The Rise of the President’s
Permanent Campaign by Brendan J. Doherty, due to be published by University
Press of Kansas in July, give statistical backing to the notion that Obama
is more preoccupied with being re-elected than any other commander-in-chief
of modern times.
Campaigner in chief? Barack Obama has been assiduously visiting swing states
; he is pictured earlier this week speaking in Iowa
Campaigner in chief? Barack Obama has been assiduously visiting swing states
; he is pictured earlier this week speaking in Iowa
Doherty, who has compiled statistics about presidential travel and
fundraising going back to President Jimmy Carter in 1977, found that Obama
had held 104 fundraisers by March 6th this year, compared to 94 held by
Presidents Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Snr, Bill Clinton and George W
. Bush combined.
Since then, Obama has held another 20 fundraisers, bringing his total to 124
. Carter held four re-election fundraisers in the 1980 campaign, Reagan zero
in 1984, Bush Snr 19 in 1992, Clinton 14 in 1996 and Bush Jnr 57 in 2004.
Doherty, a political science professor at the United States Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Maryland, has also analysed presidential travel to battleground
or swing states, which change and fluctuate in number with each election
cycle.
In their first years in office, Carter visited eight out of 18 battleground
states and Reagan seven out of 17. Bush Snr, Clinton and Bush Jnr all
visited around three-quarters of battleground states while Obama went to all
15 within his first 12 months.
While the Obama’s campaign activities in office have been largely in line
with historical trends, he is especially vulnerable to criticism because in
2008 he promised to change how politics works and to curb links with special
interests.
Vowing in 2008 to ‘launch the most sweeping ethics reform in US history’
Obama said that if elected he would ‘make government more open, more
accountable and more responsive to the problems of the American people’.
In his State of the Union speech in January, Obama bemoaned the ‘corrosive
influence of money in politics’. The following month, he reversed course
and announced he was allowing cabinet members and top advisors to speak at
big money events for so-called super PACs – unaccountable outside groups
raising money for his re-election.
During the 2008 election, Obama abandoned a pledge to opt for public funding
of his campaign, instead opting to raise an unlimited amount privately. He
then raised and spent approximately $730million, almost double the campaign
funds of Senator John McCain, his Republican opponent.
Up to the end of March, Obama had raised $191.6million for his re-election
bid, compared to $86.6million raised by his Republican challenger Mitt
Romney. His frenetic fundraising activities are in part because he is
lagging behind campaign expectations. Early last year, some advisers spoke
privately of raising $1billion.
Predecessor: George W. Bush, pictured at a rally in Milwaukee, was a less
active campaigner
Predecessor: George W. Bush, pictured at a rally in Milwaukee, was a less
active campaigner
In his book, Doherty writes that in his first full month in office Obama
visited Indiana, Florida, Colorado, Arizona and North Carolina – all
battleground states - in 2012. 'Clearly, the White House made a point of the
president travelling to key electoral states early in his term in office.'
This week, the Republican National Committee (RNC) lodged a formal complaint
with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) about alleged misuse of
taxpayer money by Obama.
The Obama campaign dismissed the complaint as a ‘stunt’ and the White
House said that it would follow the same rules as previous administrations
and refund the appropriate amounts.
In the complaint, Reince Priebus, RNC chairman, wrote: ‘Throughout his
administration, but particularly in recent weeks, President Obama has been
passing off campaign travel as “official events,” thereby allowing
taxpayers, rather than his campaign, to pay for his re-election efforts.’
Doherty, however, said that although the tactic of labelling Obama’s
activities as fraud was ‘novel’ in reality the opposing party always
complained about a president facing re-election dressing up political events
as official ones.
‘This is not new. The Republican complaint is more of a situational
complaint than a principled complaint because they certainly weren’t
complaining when George W. Bush did this eight years ago.'
Contrast: Ronald Reagan apparently did not hold a single re-election
fundraising event in the election year of 1984
Contrast: Ronald Reagan apparently did not hold a single re-election
fundraising event in the election year of 1984
He added: ‘In 2004, President George W. Bush broke all records for
presidential fundraising in terms of time devoted to fundraising and in
terms of money raised and at the time Democrats hit him hard for that.
'Obama has already surpassed Bush [Jnr] in numbers of re-election
fundraisers, but not yet in money raised.'
The rising costs of campaigns, lower contribution limits, the breakdown of
the public financing system, the 24/7 media environment and the
professionalisation of campaigns had all led to successive presidents having
to devote more and more time and energy to raising money.
He added that the ‘big picture’ was incumbent presidents fearing defeat.
‘Until 1976 [when Carter beat President Gerald Ford] no sitting president
had been defeated for re-election since 1932. It had been 44 years.
‘And then three of the next four presidents who tried [Ford, Carter and
Bush Snr] lost. Of all the presidents re-elected since Ford lost to Carter,
only Reagan has won in a landslide. George W. Bush’s re-election [in 2004]
was close, Clinton got less than 50 percent [in 1996]. There is a very keen
sense among presidents that they really might lose.’
Kirsten Kukowski, an RNC spokesperson, said: 'It’s no surprise that the
Campaigner-In-Chief has taken raising money for his re-election to a whole
new level. The worst part is the American taxpayer has been footing the bill
.' The Obama campaign did not respond to a request for comment. |
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