McCain's Schedule

I grabbed this shot from his website yesterday. There's literally nothing on the agenda except fundraisers. That shows one of the advantages that Obama's money edge is going to give him -- constant fundraising can help McCain close the gap, but it requires him to engage in constant fundraising. Meanwhile, much as McCain prizes his reformer persona, it's simply very difficult to be a real reformer when you're spending all your time begging big-dollar donors to write you checks for $2,300. Either you can grow a massive base of small donors (Obama) or you can stay in office without facing competitive election battles (McCain pre-2008) or else you become just another money-grubbing politician.

Comments

This is all true except there are "literally" two town hall events on that agenda, not just fund raisers. But if you had to summarize John McCain's presidential campaign, fund raisers and town halls would probably encompass about 95% of his time.

Posted by Ben | June 7, 2008 4:50 PM

Is "town hall meeting" a euphemism for fundraiser?

Posted by Paper Mac | June 7, 2008 4:50 PM

I still can't believe that the Republicans won't have a huge money advantage, what with Big Tobacco, Big Oil, Big Douchebag, etc. On the books, Obama's ahead, but in the Bobbi Fleckman sense, I don't believe it.

Posted by ed | June 7, 2008 5:03 PM

Constant fundraising also keeps McCain away from campaign events in front of the general voters.

However, given that McCain is an awful public speaker, that may not be so much a disadvantage!

With McCain I get the feeling that his campaign has the more the feel of a local mayoral type election; it's like he's in the minors while Obama is a superstar in the major league.

Posted by cm | June 7, 2008 5:14 PM

Yeah, it's not "literally" nothing but fundraisers; it's just mostly fundraisers. And the point that raising money for McCain takes a massive amount of time for him because to do so requires him to fly around and spend a night in a room with rich people is the more central one, not so much that it's a direct stain on his reformist reputation. Obama can raise money by sending out emails; for McCain to keep up, he's going to need to devote almost all his resources to that end. And overlooked in commentary on May being McCain's best ever month is that he's not going to have such a golden opportunity again -- his primary ended months ago and Obama and Clinton have been slugging it out, which was to give him time to prepare. So sure, he raised 30 mil. Now Obama (and a unified party) is going to train its fire on McCain.

Posted by jbryan | June 7, 2008 5:31 PM

Matt: "just another money-grubbing politician."

Are we being redundant here?

We should also keep in mind that since McCain is the candidate of the rich, clearly the more time McCain spends with them as he sells out (like he didn't sell out decades ago...), the more likely he is to get elected President.

Because they own the media who will frame the election - and the upcoming Iran war - for the benefit of McCain, not Obama.

Therefore, the amount of time this prevents him from campaigning really isn't relevant. It's the money and the influence that counts for more.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | June 7, 2008 5:59 PM

The plus side: the Obama money advantage is going to force McCain to put money into "safe" Republican areas like TX, GA, MI, NC and the like instead of contesting him. Apparently the Obama campaign is gearing towards a media buy in 25 states (I saw this on TPM) and for comparison the Bush-Cheney 2004 team played at its maximum in 17 states.

Posted by Rhoda | June 7, 2008 6:08 PM

...it's simply very difficult to be a real reformer when you're spending all your time begging big-dollar donors to write you checks for $2,300.

It's worth noting that many of the attendees are probably writing checks to the RNC, which are not limited to $2300. The RNC will be doing all the heavy lifting on this campaign by reminding us that Barack Obama is black, has a foreign-sounding name, and is, you know, scary.

Posted by Jeff S. | June 7, 2008 7:14 PM

I think that a lot of voters are paying attention to how the candidates raise money as well as how much money they raise.

The Republican advantage in the smaller, Libertarian leaning red states has been their large base of small donors. They could argue that all of their advertising in, say, Idaho was paid for by local Republicans in Idaho itself. Lacking a sizeable local base, the Democrats had to counter with ads paid for by national fundraising and wealthier, out-of-state donors. This made it very easy to paint the Democrats as out of touch and powered by "special interests" on a state by state basis.

Now the shoe is on the other foot because a lot of reliable Republican donors have shut off the taps. Unless they open them up again, McCain will be forced to run as a Democrat while Obama pays for his Idaho campaign with small donations from local people. That could end up being a bigger problem for McCain than simply having less money to spend.

Posted by Splitting Image | June 7, 2008 7:35 PM

Anyone find it odd that a candidate who needs to maintain an aggressive fundraising schedule is clamoring for weekly townhall debates? Heck, if McCain wants weekly debates, give him weekly debates. Just make sure they're in cities where he can't raise much dough.

Posted by Nathan A | June 7, 2008 7:44 PM

Anyone find it odd that a candidate who needs to maintain an aggressive fundraising schedule is clamoring for weekly townhall debates?

No. It's not odd at all. Doing weekly debates with Obama will get McCain constant press coverage -- and considering that he won't be able to mount anything close to as aggressive a media/ad operation as Obama will, that's pretty valuable. Obama will be blitzing him on the news and in television ads. McCain needs a way to respond and get some attention (same reason why he decided to give a speech the same night as SD/MT/Obama's delegate win).

Posted by jbryan | June 7, 2008 7:58 PM

Keep in mind that McCain and Obama campaign in very different ways.

Obama prefers the "big crowd" events. He gives his stump speech, his campaign staff signs up contributors and volunteers, and reporters write about what a great success it was.

McCain can campaign without crowds. He travels into an area. The local reporters rub elbows with the media celebrities on the "Straight-Talk Express." They all spend time breathing air that was only minutes before in the Great Man's lungs. They prepare enthusiastic news pieces about bounty that awaits all of us in a McCain presidency.

McCain's schedule is evidence to me that his campaign staff has figured out how he works best.

Posted by rk | June 8, 2008 12:19 AM

There's literally nothing on the agenda except fundraisers.

False.

Posted by David Morris | June 8, 2008 1:20 AM

This post raises a question I've had for a while now. When was the last time McCain faced a competitive election? Obviously, he lost to Bush in 2000, but has he ever had a tough race for the Senate?

Posted by kosmonaut | June 8, 2008 1:59 AM

Halperin notes that McCain is going to allow press in his fundraisers. At first, I thought this was another gimmick to prove his openness with the press. Now, though, it seems that he is allowing press in his fundraisers because that's all he'll be doing.

Posted by Dalton | June 8, 2008 10:20 AM

This post raises a question I've had for a while now. When was the last time McCain faced a competitive election?

Hmm. He got all his opponents disqualified in his first competitive election, then in the next one all his opponents imploded because of their divorce records.

Posted by AT | June 8, 2008 5:10 PM

Are these comments for real? What politician is not looking for money and votes, usually promising what they cannot deliver or have no intention of anyway. We now have a choice between a communist/socialist or a schmuck. I guess you have to figure who will hurt the country the least. Anyone who feels Obama is going to save this country better look real close, Europe is just starting to wake up and see what does and does not work. Wake up before it's too late.

Posted by John | June 10, 2008 11:15 AM