Donald Trump spent more than $400,000 in the last three months to manufacture his iconic “Make America Great Again” hats, and another $450,000 on signature drives to make sure he’s met the requirements to get on the ballots in this year’s GOP primaries.
Meanwhile, erstwhile chief opponent Jeb Bush’s single biggest expense was the more than $660,000 he paid to the IRS between October and December — the amount of payroll taxes he owed on the bloated campaign organization he’d hoped would carry him to victory in the GOP presidential primary.
But both of them are pikers compared to the Democrats, where Hillary Clinton spent $7 million on staffing in the last three months of 2015, and paid $3.7 million in payroll taxes, and Sen. Bernard Sanders spent nearly $3 million on campaign paraphernalia.
The year-end reports were filed the day before the first votes were to be cast Monday in Iowa’s caucuses. The numbers covered up through Dec. 31 — an eon ago in political terms, but still suggestive of how the campaigns had positioned themselves heading into the new year.
Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Bush had both spent heavily on traditional-style campaigns, with a giant paid staff, rent and travel costs.
“We’re heading into the first caucuses and primaries with an organization second to none thanks to the support of hundreds of thousands of people across the country and have the resources necessary to wage a successful campaign in the early states and beyond,” Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, said in a statement Sunday night announcing the numbers. “We’ve focused on investing in people to organize and turn out voters and in preparing for the map to expand beyond the early states.”
By contrast Mr. Sanders, the upstart who is closing the gap with Mrs. Clinton, despite raising almost as much as her, spent less than half what she did on payroll, instead pumping his money into advertising and campaign buttons, shirts and other promotional items designed to gin up excitement for his bid.
The same with Mr. Trump, the iconoclastic billionaire candidate who has taken the lead in the GOP field, who spent his money on consultants, ballot access and the hats, yard signs and stickers that the master of marketing has pushed on his fans.
Then there’s Sen. Ted Cruz, the man who’s closest to challenging Mr. Trump in the polls, who’s spent his money on research and renting potential voter lists, hoping to identify supporters and then target them to turn out at the caucuses or polls in the first primary contests.
On the fundraising side, Mrs. Clinton led all candidates in both parties with $38.1 million raised in the final quarter of 2015. Mr. Sanders was close behind with $33.6 million.
Among Republicans, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson continued to rake in the cash with $22.6 million raised — though he also spent a good chunk of that money on direct marketing, which helped him raise the money in the first place.
Mr. Cruz raised $20.5 million, Sen. Marco Rubio raised $14.2 million and Mr. Bush raised just $7.1 million.
Mr. Trump reported receipts of $13.6 million in the quarter — with $10.8 million of that coming from a loan he extended to his campaign. He has said he would self-fund his bid for the GOP nomination, saying it gives him a leg up on his competitors, who he said end up owing favors to their big donors.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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