WU-TANG PRESIDENTIAL FINANCIALS …
“Cash Rules Everything Around Me” is one of our favorite Wu-Tang Clan songs. Why? Because it’s awesome, that’s why. Oh, and Wu-Tang’s guest appearance on David Chappelle‘s hit Comedy Central show back in 2003 is pure comedic genius.
Anyway …
That’s our lede into 2016 presidential fundraising, an area in which cash most assuredly rules everything around … well, everything.
Who is winning the cash race? Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders – whose campaigns raised $29.9 million and $26.2 million during the third quarter of 2015, respectively.
The only “Republican” to break the $20 million mark during the last quarter? Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who brought in $20.8 million.
No one else in the GOP field topped the $14 million mark (Jeb Bush – $13.4 million, Ted Cruz – $12.4 million, Carly Fiorina – $6.8 million, Marco Rubio – $5.7 million, John Kasich – $4.4 million, Chris Christie – $4.2 million, Donald Trump – $3.9 million and Rand Paul – $2.5 million).
Of course the GOP’s No. 4 fundraiser in the third quarter – a guy who brought in $7.3 million last quarter – dropped out of the race more than a month ago.
When it comes to cash on hand, leading “Republicans” again trail top Democrats. Clinton and Sanders currently have $33 million and $27.1 million in the bank, while Cruz leads GOP candidates with $13.8 million cash on hand. He’s followed by Carson ($11.3 million), Rubio ($11 million), Bush ($10.3 million), Fiorina ($5.5 million), Kasich ($2.6 million) and Paul ($2.1 million).
Obviously GOP money is spread across a much broader field of potentially credible candidates, and this money doesn’t include cash donated to political action committees. The Right to Rise PAC, for example, had raised a whopping $108.5 million through the end of the second quarter – and had nearly $100 million of that on hand.
That’s the group spending big bucks on television commercials touting Bush – the GOP establishment’s top choice for the presidency.
Will “Right to Rise” continue backing Bush if his numbers don’t improve, though? No …
The other unknown in the race? How much of his own money Donald Trump plans on investing to preserve his status as the GOP’s surprise frontrunner. Unlike the other candidates, Trump doesn’t need to spend money building his name identification – although we suspect at some point he will have to counter a blitzkrieg of negative attack ads.
For the latest breakdown on the 2016 money race, here’s a excellent collection of charts and graphs from The New York Times …
3 comments
Yo, rethuglicans!
Better protect ya necks come election time!
DAMN, I “clicked” on this thinking it was about Clapton!
JEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Compare and contrast the comment thread on this post with the one for the more recent one about the Spring Valley High incident. That one is obviously much more in line with what people are focussing on now than is anything about Wu Tang Clan.
I have nothing to add to this, other than the observation that they’re still a total phenom worthy of respect, and that I recently learned that they have, by far, a collective vocabulary superior to any comparable rap or hip-hop assemblage.
For what it’s worth, I think that counts for something.
That is all.