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Carly Fiorina, an adviser to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, said Tuesday that the Arizona Republican has more funds at his disposal than does Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.). “At the end of the April, John McCain had cash on hand of over $60 million, and Sen. Obama had cash on hand of over $50 million,” Fiorina said on CNN. However, she added the money that the Republican National Committee (RNC) has in the bank to McCain’s total. The RNC has a significant cash advantage over the Democratic National Committee. On the other hand, Obama had $46 million in the bank at the end of April, more than twice the amount of McCain’s cash reserves. Fiorina noted that McCain has access to the RNC’s money. “We think we have plenty of money to run the campaign we want,” she added. While McCain is raising far less money than Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), he is also not forced to spend as much money, because he has clinched the GOP nomination. Obama has spent over $100 million through the first four months of the year, according to Federal Election Commission reports. “When you're putting together these huge rallies, these very well-orchestrated events, the amount of ad time that the Obama campaign is buying, that takes a lot of money,” the McCain adviser said. Fiorina also noted that the presumptive GOP nominee and the party’s current leader, President Bush, will occasionally appear together but more often apart from one another. While the commander in chief will be crucial to McCain’s fundraising efforts, his low approval ratings have Republicans worried that Bush will be a drag on the ticket. “I think it’s a reality that President Bush is, of course, very appealing to many Republican voters,” said Fiorina. “But Sen. McCain is his own man. He has to run his own campaign. And part of his winning campaign is to not only talk to Republicans, but also to talk with independents and independent-minded Democrats.” A video of the exchange can be found here . |
