February 21, 2020
Democratic Presidential Candidates Ended January Short on Cash
Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden haven’t invested in any ads in the crucial Super Tuesday states, data show
by By Julie Bykowicz and Chad Day
WSJ.com
Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., had less than $7 million in campaign funds in early February.
Four of the top six Democratic presidential campaigns spent heavily ahead of the Iowa caucuses, and they are now at a major disadvantage on the airwaves heading into next month’s crucial Super Tuesday contests.
While billionaire Michael Bloomberg is already spending about $156 million on TV and radio ads across the 14 states that weigh in on March 3, neither former Vice President Joe Biden nor former Mayor Pete Buttigieg had invested in a single Super Tuesday commercial as of Thursday night, according to ad tracker Kantar/CMAG.
Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren combined have put less than $2 million into Super Tuesday ads. Of the six candidates in Wednesday’s Democratic debate, Sen. Bernie Sanders is the only nonbillionaire with a major paid-media presence in those states, with $11 million in ads.
Federal Election Commission reports filed late Thursday, which cover finance activity in the month of January, help explain the absence of paid media for much of the 2020 Democratic field: As February began, Mr. Biden, Mr. Buttigieg, Ms. Klobuchar and Ms. Warren each had less than half as much in the bank as Mr. Sanders did. And none had a war chest close to the $460 million Mr. Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, had put into his campaign by the end of last month.
The disparity shows how 2020 Democrats poured resources into the four states that vote in February and how the race could be shaken up as it moves to the March states where Mr. Bloomberg has been spending aggressively for months. Billionaire Tom Steyer, another presidential self-funder, also has paid for some $37 million of ads on TV in Super Tuesday states.
With February chock-full of primaries and debates—prime opportunities to capture public attention and raise more money—the campaigns could still make significant ad purchases.
But several candidates will have to rush to compete with Mr. Sanders and the deep-pocketed self-funders. Mr. Biden had just over $7 million in the bank, Mr. Buttigieg less than $7 million, and Ms. Klobuchar less than $3 million heading into this month, when Iowa kicked off the nominating process with its Feb. 3 caucuses.
Those candidates are relying in part on traditional fundraising events attended by wealthier donors—a style of financing that is increasingly hard to maintain as the primary voting demands more of the candidates’ time.
Mr. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and a prolific fundraiser for much of the race, raised just over $6 million in January, a slower fundraising clip than he has seen since last summer. Ahead of the contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, he burned through $14 million in campaign money last month—a move that paid off for him with strong finishes in both states.
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign had just over $7 million in the bank when Iowa kicked off the nominating process with its Feb. 3 caucuses.
Mr. Buttigieg acknowledged a cash crunch in a fundraising email on Thursday, saying he must raise $13 million by Super Tuesday to stay competitive. Delegate-rich California and Texas, large, expensive states in terms of candidate travel and advertising, are in the mix that day.
By contrast, Mr. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist widening his lead in polls in soon-to-vote states, began February with as much money in the bank as the three moderates combined, about $17 million. The Vermont senator is only pursuing online contributions, often small donors, and again raised more money than any other Democratic candidate, $25 million.
Ms. Warren, who has also focused on collecting small donations online, raised more than $10 million in January—but spent almost $23 million and started February with just $2.3 million on hand. Her campaign also tapped into $400,000 of a $3 million line of credit, her filing shows. The campaign said in a statement Thursday evening that it took out the money “in case it was necessary for cash flow purposes around the Iowa caucuses, but it ultimately wasn’t necessary.”
The campaign said it got a boost of money in its end-of-January fundraising appeals. Her adversarial approach to Mr. Bloomberg at Wednesday’s debate in Las Vegas also invigorated the Massachusetts senator’s fundraising and helped her collect $17 million so far this month, her campaign said, its record so far. Still, her campaign has only spent about $300,000 on Super Tuesday ads.
Ms. Klobuchar’s weaker fundraising in January—she raised $5.5 million while spending $7.6 million—came before she rode a strong debate performance in New Hampshire to a third-place finish there. Earlier this week, the Minnesota senator’s campaign said she had raised more than $12 million since that Feb. 7 debate.
The Biden campaign, which spent about $11 million last month while raising almost $9 million, hasn’t publicly set any fundraising goals for the month or provided updates about its recent fundraising, although the former vice president has said he is raising about $400,000 a day online.
His candidacy is receiving financial backup from a super PAC called Unite the Country, which raised more than $4 million last month and spent slightly less than that. Most of its money went to TV ads in Iowa, federal filings and data from Kantar/CMAG show.
The group’s biggest January donor was California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s husband, Richard Blum, a San Francisco investment banker who has also co-hosted several fundraising events for the Biden campaign.
Until recently, Messrs. Biden and Buttigieg were the only top-tier Democratic candidates receiving help from super PACs. But in the past few days, two new outside groups have popped up to help Ms. Klobuchar and Ms. Warren, who had previously sworn off such aid.
Those super PACs—Persist PAC, backing Ms. Warren, and Kitchen Table Conversations PAC, supporting Ms. Klobuchar—won’t have to disclose the details of their financing until after the Super Tuesday contests.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/democratic-presidential-candidates-ended-january-short-on-cash-11582281001
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