Third Quarter 2003 Campaign Finances - Summary
July 1-September 30, 2003
During this quarter the Bush campaign raised more than all the Democratic campaigns combined, reporting total receipts of $50.0 million compared to $35.7 million for the 10 Democrats ($35.2 million if one excludes Edwards transfer from his Senate committee).  The Dean campaign far outpaced the Democratic field, its $14.8 million for the quarter was more than three times the amount raised by the nearest Democratic campaign, that of Kerry.  The campaigns are starting to spend significant sums.  The Edwards campaign in particular reported disbursements more than twice its receipts for the quarter.  Only Dean, Lieberman and, at the bottom of the chart Sharpton and Moseley Braun, raised more than they spent.
See also: Center for Responsive Politics' 10/16/03 release on 3nd Quarter Reports 
Third Quarter 2003 Campaign Finances - Summary
Cash On Hand
(at beginning of reporting period
Debts+Obligations
Total Receipts
Total Disbursements
Cash On Hand
(at end of reporting period)
Debts+Obligations
Bush-Cheney '04
$32,679,798.37
$542,100.16 
$50,049,763.70
$12,288,117.89
$70,441,444.18
$370,599.43 
Clark for President, Inc.
-- 
$3,491,108.95
$107,259.97
$3,383,848.98
$31,058.19 
Dean for America
$6,403,871.53
$316,600.31 
$14,839,513.99
$8,807,484.48
$12,435,901.04
$371,165.73 
Edwards for President, Inc.
$8,118,998.01
$99,365.58 
$2,574,121.97*
$5,884,439.13
$4,808,680.85
$437,155.31 
Gephardt for President Inc.
$6,301,481.07
$303,550.87 
$3,830,746.51
$4,247,626.64
$5,884,600.94
$459,639.48 
Bob Graham for President Inc
$1,785,835.46
$21,741.52 
$1,413,185.24
$2,390,766.80
$808,253.90
$96,452.12 
     
John Kerry for President Inc
$10,862,059.92
$178,662.72 
    $4,015,365.36
$7,091,134.37
$7,786,290.91
$285,754.76 
Kerry GELAC Fund
$65,748.50
$92,950.00
$0.00
$158,698.50
Kucinich for President Committee
$1,081,491.19
$1,660,756.67
$1,956,776.52
$785,471.34
Joe Lieberman for President, Inc.
$4,044,865.35
$230,116.64 
$3,627,778.42
$3,590,063.32
$4,082,580.45
$346,108.21 
Carol Moseley Braun for President
$22,126.80
$77,900.33 
$125,410.56
$118.259.21
$29,278.15
$113,918.13 
Sharpton 2004
$12,061.94
$62,867.11 
$121,314.80
$109,306.27 $24,070.47
$177,562.42 
*Edwards' figure includes $460,609.00 transfered from his Senate committee. 
Debts+Obligations is the net figure (i.e. Debts and Obligations Owed By the Committee - Debts and Obligations Owed To the Committee).
 
 
Third Quarter 2003 - Ranked
Top Fundraising
(Total Receipts)
Top Spending
(Total Disbursements)
1. Bush-Cheney '04
$50,049,763.70
1. Bush-Cheney '04
$12,288,117.89
2. Dean for America
$14,839,513.99
2. Dean for America
$8,807,484.48
3. John Kerry for President, Inc.
$4,015,365.36
3. John Kerry for President, Inc.
$7,091,134.37
4. Gephardt for President, Inc.
$3,830,746.51
4. Edwards for President, Inc.
$5,884,439.13
5. Joe Lieberman for President, Inc.
$3,627,778.42
5. Gephardt for President, Inc.
$4,247,626.64
6. Clark for President, Inc.
$3,491,108.95
6. Joe Lieberman for President, Inc.
$3,590,063.32
7. Edwards for President, Inc.
$2,574,121.97*
7. Bob Graham for President, Inc.
$2,390,766.80
8. Kucinich for President Committee
$1,660,756.67
8. Kucinich for President Committee
$1,956,776.52
9. Bob Graham for President, Inc.
$1,413,185.24
9. Carol Moseley Braun for President
$118.259.21
10. Carol Moseley Braun for President
$125,410.56
10. Sharpton 2004
$109,306.27
11. Sharpton 2004
$121,314.80
11. Clark for President, Inc.
$107,259.97
*Edwards' figure includes $460,609.00 transfered from his Senate committee. 

Notes:
Bush:  Bush-Cheney '04 fundraising continued breaking records, bringing in $49.5 million in contributions from 262,000 contributors in all 50 states and in 3,115 out of 3,141 counties.  Total receipts were $50 million.  Of the $49.5 million, the campaign reported $41.1 million was raised through events, $7.9 million with direct mail, and $1.4 million online.  The campaign finished the quarter with over $70 million in cash on hand.
 

Clark:  The Clark campaign brought in $3.5 million in contributions in just two weeks (Clark announced his candidacy on Sept. 17).  The campaign reported approximately 21,000 donors, an average contribution of $167, and about two-thirds of the money raised on line.  It finished the quarter with $3.4 million in cash on hand.
 

Dean:  Dean for America weighed in with "the largest FEC report ever compiled by a Democratic presidential campaign."  The campaign raised $14.8 million during the quarter, eclipsing the record held by Bill Clinton, when he was the incumbent president.  The average donation for the quarter was $73.69 and the average online donation was $61.14.  Roughly $7.3-7.4 million was raised over the Internet.  Over 10,000 people hosted or attended house parties in the quarter; one highlight was the world record largest conference call involving 3,466 people.  Ten days out from the end of the quarter, Joe Trippi set a goal of $15 million by the end of the quarter.  At that point the campaign had raised $9.7 million.  The baseball bat graphic  was posted on the campaign's  web site (actually five $1 million bats) .  The campaign met the challenge of the five bats, but it fell a tad short of the $15 million; Trippi took responsibility for the "rounding error."   Some reporters questioned the campaign's burn rate, the $8.8 million spent in the quarter.  Campaign manager Joe Trippi responded that "running a national campaign is expensive" and pointed to investments such as the Sleepless Summer tour, staff in about a dozen states, and advertising in a number of states.  Further $12.4 million in cash on hand placed the campaign well ahead of the nearest Democratic competitor (although well behind President Bush).  Trippi said the campaign had had to boost its compliance staff to meet the challenge of getting the report done in 15 days--when printed out the report was over six feet tall.  "The FEC is going to have to change all these regulations," Trippi said.  Looking to the future, the campaign appeared in good shape; fewer than 1 percent of donors had contributed the maximum $2,000, leaving them free to make further contributions.  Still under consideration is whether the campaign will opt in or opt out of public financing.
 

Edwards:  The campaign's Oct. 15 press release highlighted its total receipts for 2003, which at $14.5 million were the third highest total of the Democratic presidential campaigns ("Edwards Number Three in Total Raised").  However, total receipts for the third quarter were just $2.6 million, placing the campaign sixth behind Dean, Kerry, Gephardt, Lieberman and Clark.  And, that figure included $460,609.00 transfered from Edwards' Senate committee.  Further, the campaign spent $5.9 million for the quarter, or more than twice what it brought in.  Campaign Manager Nick Baldick stated, "Our goal from the beginning of the year was to raise $20 million this year, and we are on track to meet that goal."  Through the end of the 3rd Quarter, the campaign reported spending $715,920.31 in Iowa, $535,872.17 in New Hampshire, $370,146.56 in South Carolina, and $196,591.98 in Oklahoma.
 

Gephardt: Gephardt's fundraising, while not stellar, has been consistent.  The $3.8 million the campaign raised placed Gephardt third for the quarter and roughly matched its 2nd Quarter total.  However the campaign spent  $4.2 million, reducing cash on hand to $5.9 million.
 

Graham: Sen. Graham ended his campaign shortly after the end of the 3rd Quarter, on October 6.  His campaign raised just $1.4 million in the quarter, putting him eighth among the Democratic candidates.
 

Kerry:  $4 million raised in the quarter put the Kerry campaign a distant second among the Democratic candidates, more than $10 million behind the Dean campaign.  Also in this quarter Kerry's campaign spent $3 million more than it brought in.  The campaign earned some positive press by releasing a list of its top fundraisers.  (An Oct. 21 editorial in the Washington Post said the release of the list "puts him in the forefront of meaningful disclosure.")  The list showed 30 fundraisers who raised $100,000 or more and 79 who raised between $50,000 and $100,000.
 

Kucinich:  The campaign's Oct. 15 press release opened, "While many presidential campaigns decline in fundraising, the insurgent Kucinich campaign today is filing its financial statement showing an increase."   The increase was modest to be sure, from $1.56 million to $1.66 million.  According to the campaign, the average donation for the quarter was $72.  The campaign reported that much of the total was raised on the Internet, that nearly $1million was raised in September, and that house parties around the country on September 21 raised nearly $300,000.
 

Lieberman:  The campaign's Oct. 15 press release highlighted "raising $11.76 million in the first three quarters of 2003," then noted that it raised $3.6 million in the quarter.  The campaign spent slightly less than what it brought in to finish with $4 million in cash on hand.  The campaign reported more than 11,000 contributions in the quarter.

Moseley Braun: 

Sharpton: 

Copyright © 2003  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.