Elections

Six Takeaways From Sunday’s FEC Filings

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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2016 presidential candidates and their affiliated super PACs filed their 2015 year end reports Sunday revealing which campaigns are running on fumes and which are ready for the long-haul.

1. These Candidates Are On Their Last Legs And Self-Funding Their Efforts: Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum whose personal financial disclosures reveal he has a negative net worth, gave $24000 to his own campaign. Santorum’s campaign ran through money in 2015 and had $42,919.79 cash on hand heading into 2016. Gov. Martin O’Malley who was called by Forbes “the poorest presidential candidate,” took out a $500,000 loan for his campaign. After 2015 he had $169,442.45 cash on hand, and is far behind strong fundraisers Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore 2016 hopes have been kept alive through one man’s generosity, his own. In 2015 Gilmore gave $124,075 in personal loans to his campaign. That represents about more than half the $214,440 his presidential effort has raised.

2. Bernie Sanders Is Giving Hillary Clinton A Run For Her Money: Sanders raised $33.6 million in the last quarter of 2015 and has $28.3 million on hand. Hillary raised a little over $38 million and at the close of 2015 had $37.9 million cash on hand. Sanders’ campaign is funded largely by small donors, with seventy percent of donations under $200. Only 372 people gave the maximum donation of $2,700. Only 15 percent of Hillary’s donations came from small donors, Politico reports. While Sanders has spent much of the campaign attacking super PACs and what he views as their unfair influence in politics. His campaign is supported by the super PAC National Nurses United for Patient Protection, which is affiliated with the largest national nurses union, National Nurses United. This super PAC had it’s largest election off-year fundraising effort in 2015, raising $2.3 million. This dwarfed in comparison to the amount Hillary Clinton super PACs pulled in, with George Soros alone giving $6 million to Clinton-affiliated Priorities USA Action. Priorities USA raised more than $50 million through the end of January.

3. Donald Trump Is Primarily Self-Funding His Campaign: Trump’s filings reveal he raised $13.5 million in the last quarter of 2015, $10.8 million of which came from his own pockets. Trump only $6.8 million that quarter, about seven percent of which went towards his iconic “Make America Great Again” hats.

4. Despite Falling Poll Numbers Carson Raised The Most: Despite faltering poll numbers and calls for him to drop out of the race, Ben Carson raised the most money amongst his GOP rivals. His fourth quarter haul of $22.6 million is trailed by [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore]’s $20.5 million. Carson has one of the highest burn rates in the race, 120%, he spent $27.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2015.

5. [crscore]Rand Paul[/crscore] and Chris Christie Are Relying Heavily On Super PAC Money: America Leads, a pro-Christie Super PAC raised $5.1 million in the fifth quarter of 2015. Christie’s campaign itself had $4.2 million in donations, and the New Jersey governor has about $1.4 million cash on hand. To see the effect of this one just has to look at January ad spending, his campaign spent $79,000 on ads, while his super PAC spent $4.3 million. Sen.Rand Paul had a disappointing fourth quarter in 2015, spending $2.9 million, while his campaign only raising $2 million. He will though get a boost from some big money Super PAC donations, including ones from prominent libertarian and Whole Foods founder John Mackey. Mackey donated $200,000 to Paul affiliated PAC Concerned American Voters. This is one of three PACs supporting the Kentucky senator that raised $4.6 million to wrap up 2015. The other two being America’s Liberty PAC and Purple PAC, the three spent $5.9 million in the fourth quarter. Other donors besides Mackey include tech executive George Macricostas, $1 million, and popular exercise fad Crossfit, $10,000.

6. Jeb Bush Flies In Comfort, While Ted Cruz Saves Up: Bush’s campaign has received criticism recently for the way it has been run, whether it is over spending millions attacking Rubio or staying at luxury hotels. This recent filing isn’t going to change much. Bush spent $787,000 on charter flights in the final months of 2015. This does though represent savings from the $1.2 million he spent on private flight between June and September 2015. Ted Cruz on the other hand has been stockpiling funds, and finished 2015 with $18.7 million on hand. This is more than any GOP candidate and $8 million more than Rubio who is behind him at $10.3 million. The Texas senator also benefits from the fact many of his donors can give again, 42 percent of his donations were under $200. Cruz’s Super PACs also have around $30 million in stores.