Brutal Assessment of Barack Obama's Tenure as Campaign Executive

Barack Obama and his followers supporters have tried to make the case that running a national campaign for president is a form of executive experience. If that's the case, then recent events show a marked deficiency in crisis management skills, diplomacy and now...budgeting.

Pushing a fund-raiser later this month, a finance staff member sent a sharply worded note last week to Illinois members of its national finance committee, calling their recent efforts "extremely anemic."

At a convention-week meeting in Denver of the campaign's top fund-raisers, buttons with the image of a money tree were distributed to those who had already contributed the maximum $2,300 to the general election, a subtle reminder to those who had failed to ante up.

The signs of concern have become evident in recent weeks as early fund-raising totals have suggested that Obama's decision to bypass public financing may not necessarily afford him the commanding financing advantage over Senator John McCain that many had originally predicted.

The Obama campaign does not have to report its August fund-raising totals until next week, so it is difficult to tally what it has in the bank at this point. A spokesman said that August was its best fund-raising month yet and that the campaign's fund-raising was on track. But the campaign finished July with slightly less cash on hand with the Democratic National Committee compared with McCain and the R.N.C. The Obama campaign has also been spending heavily, including several million more than the McCain campaign in advertising in August.

The financial situation makes the recent poll activity even more troublesome for Obama. Although some fundraisers will stick with the campaign to the end, some will be very reluctant to open their deep pockets to support a flailing operation.

posted by Slublog at 09:02 AM

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