The Autopsy Begins

 

Once a campaign fails, the knives come out.

This morning, Christopher Cadelago, California Bureau Chief for Politico, tweeted this out:

Kamala Harris’s campaign ended with at least $20 million in debt, per two sources familiar. Harris raised over $1 billion and had $118 million in the bank as of Oct. 16.

So, where did the money go? The internet is rife with rumors and none of it is well sourced. When the final FEC filings come out, we’ll really get an inside look at who got what.

There were indications last week that the Harris campaign was in a panic. National sales managers with large station groups were telling reporters that Harris was canceling large ad buys in North Carolina and moving them into Virginia. Then they heard that buys would be made on a daily basis.

This morning, the Thursday after the election, The New York Times reports that Future Forward, a progressive Super PAC, was telling Bill Clinton that Trump’s ad featuring radio host Charlamagne Tha God complaining about Harris’ support of taxpayer-provided transgender surgeries was moving the needle among black and Latino men by over 2.7 points. Clinton begged the campaign to answer, and they assured him the ads weren’t as effective as he thought they were. That’s malfeasance.

And there will be more to come.

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  1. Doctor Robert Member
    Doctor Robert
    @DoctorRobert

    Steven Seward (View Comment):

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):

    Harris was given an easy layup on “The View”. — What would you have done differently than the Biden Administration?. She blew it by giving an honest answer –Nothing.

    I don’t think she was purposely trying to be honest. I think she was just too slow-witted to know what to say.

     

    She was too slow witted to have prepared an answer to a question which was both a lay-up and easily anticipated.  She was supposed to be a Candidate of Change, for Crisssake.

    We have REALLY dodged a bullet with the re-election of Mr Trump.  How grateful am I that he turned his head to the right that evening.

    • #31
  2. EJHill Staff
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Miffed White Male: Didn’t Hillary’s campaign end up over $50 million in debt?

    $20 Mill is only a lot because of the magnitude of the money she raised.

    Hillary also went through a primary. Kamala managed to do this in 110 days.

    • #32
  3. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    MarciN (View Comment):

    EJHill: So, where did the money go? The internet is rife with rumors and none of it is well sourced. When the final FEC filings come out we’ll really get an inside look at who got what.

    I know you know this, but it can take a while to settle the accounts from a political campaign.

    The campaign laws and accounting rules are just unbelievable. The state-level campaign I helped out on really opened my eyes to the overregulated life of a candidate.

    Plus, the campaigns use a lot of freelancers. Those payments can take time to sort through too.

    That said, I hope the press does follow up. $20 million is a whopping debt.

    The part I have bolded is a travesty that keeps a lot of good, honorable people away from running for political office. As with so many “bright ideas” the intention (in this case transparency in government) might be honorable and noble, but almost inevitably the implementation becomes a mess that often defeats intent. 

    • #33
  4. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment):

    EJHill: So, where did the money go? The internet is rife with rumors and none of it is well sourced. When the final FEC filings come out we’ll really get an inside look at who got what.

    I know you know this, but it can take a while to settle the accounts from a political campaign.

    The campaign laws and accounting rules are just unbelievable. The state-level campaign I helped out on really opened my eyes to the overregulated life of a candidate.

    Plus, the campaigns use a lot of freelancers. Those payments can take time to sort through too.

    That said, I hope the press does follow up. $20 million is a whopping debt.

    The part I have bolded is a travesty that keeps a lot of good, honorable people away from running for political office. As with so many “bright ideas” the intention (in this case transparency in government) might be honorable and noble, but almost inevitably the implementation becomes a mess that often defeats intent.

    Agreed a thousandfold.

    • #34
  5. TBA, sometimes known as 'Teebs'. Coolidge
    TBA, sometimes known as 'Teebs'.
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    Of course, many of the excuses are lame. “Biden was too old”–my father is 94. He’s far sharper than Biden. Biden is feebleminded, not the same thing. Plus people hated his decisions even before dementia was obvious.

    “Inflation was high all over the world. It wasn’t his fault.” Because center-left governments all over the world used fiscal heroin to deal with Covid. And center-left governments all over the world got their rear ends kicked.

    “Can’t rule out racism”–want to compare Harris’s results to Obama’s? And 2008 was sixteen long years ago, when this country would have been even race-ier.

    “Harris was unfairly tagged with things she said and wrote five years ago”–Republicans get tagged for trying to cop a feel in high school 40 years ago.

    You had me at ‘even race-ier’. 

    • #35
  6. TBA, sometimes known as 'Teebs'. Coolidge
    TBA, sometimes known as 'Teebs'.
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Steven Seward (View Comment):

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):

    Harris was given an easy layup on “The View”. — What would you have done differently than the Biden Administration?. She blew it by giving an honest answer –Nothing.

    I don’t think she was purposely trying to be honest. I think she was just too slow-witted to know what to say.

     

    That she didn’t have a prepared and memorized answer to insert into such an easy-to-anticipate question struck me as major evidence that she had no idea what she was doing. If her campaign staff didn’t anticipate such a question, that would indicate how terrible Harris is at selecting and leading staff. Maybe her staff did anticipate such a question, but Harris is notoriously unwilling to listen to people around her, so maybe Harris ignored any advice staff provided.

    But…but I have been assured that it is Trump who is unwilling to listen to people around him. 

    • #36
  7. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    TBA, sometimes known as 'Teebs… (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Steven Seward (View Comment):

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):

    Harris was given an easy layup on “The View”. — What would you have done differently than the Biden Administration?. She blew it by giving an honest answer –Nothing.

    I don’t think she was purposely trying to be honest. I think she was just too slow-witted to know what to say.

     

    That she didn’t have a prepared and memorized answer to insert into such an easy-to-anticipate question struck me as major evidence that she had no idea what she was doing. If her campaign staff didn’t anticipate such a question, that would indicate how terrible Harris is at selecting and leading staff. Maybe her staff did anticipate such a question, but Harris is notoriously unwilling to listen to people around her, so maybe Harris ignored any advice staff provided.

    But…but I have been assured that it is Trump who is unwilling to listen to people around him.

    Trump does often appear unwilling to listen to advice (I would hate to be his lawyer), but he does seem to learn quickly and to adapt. It always seems to take a lot of work and a lot of time to get Harris to absorb information. And even then she gets stuck at the memorized response stage, and does not appear to fully absorb the information. 

    And Trump did tell us he listened to the advice of the campaign worker who insisted he wear the reflective vest from the garbage truck onto the stage after the worker identified the motivation to use – saying it made him look thinner. :)

    • #37
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