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Opinion: Adding up the losers’ spending: Clinton, Biden, Romney, Paul, et al.

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As usual, The Times’ diligent Dan Morain has the presidential fundraising story elsewhere on this website, focusing on Sen. John McCain.

But poring over the numbers reported late Sunday night by the also-rans and the never-were-really-in-its, he compiled this table for Ticket readers.

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Numbers are really intriguing, now that we’re no longer in ninth grade algebra. For one thing, the sums spent to persuade Americans to vote for a candidate are simply enormous: about $540 million so far. And there’s still months to go!

Will we have a billion-dollar campaign season? For sure, with just the losers spending that $540 million. In 2004, about 121 million presidential votes were cast. Figure 10% growth for 2008 ballots and $1 billion spent and that’s $7.50 for every single general election vote!

The per vote total will be even larger if, as is possible, Obama alone spends a half-billion dollars just so he can buy his daughters a dog.

Only three of the two-party panoply of losing candidates ended up with zero debt, all of them Republicans: Reps. Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. (He can afford to forgive the $45 million of loans to himself.)

The biggest debt, not surprisingly, belongs to Sen. Hillary Clinton, $25 million worth, which Barack Obama has asked his supporters to help retire, with mixed success.

But added all together, the total outstanding debts still total more than $33 million, 76% of it belonging to Clinton. Rudy Giuliani still owes $3.6 million.

Mike Huckabee, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter have whittled their debts down some, but Joe Biden still reports a whopping $1.56 million. And Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who seems always to be announcing another impeachment bid, still owes nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.

The full fundraising-expenditure-debt table is on the second page of this item. Just click the Read More line below.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Candidate Debt Raised Spent

Democrats:
Biden 1,155,869 12,835,032 12,750,284
Dodd 395,793 18,419,662 17,175,969
Richardson 292,726 24,411,788 24,410,486
Clinton 25,201,722 242,683,365 216,636,698.
Kucinich 713,306 4,545,338 4,537,956
Gravel 177,046 590,043 585,370

Republicans:

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Gilmore: 140,935 404,880 388,425
Cox 1,055,000 1,084,477 1,082,700
Giuliani 3,658,035 65,856,966 65,696,301
Huckabee 121,109 16,429,288 16,370,672
Hunter: 230,447 2,690,750 2,663,655
Paul 0.00 35,082,970 34,433,344.
Tancredo 0.00 8,468,203 8,246,565
Thompson 52,593 24,154,658 23,953,447
Romney 0.00 113,507,779 113,447,358 _____________________________________________________________
Totals 33,194,581 571,165,199 539,981,930

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Source: Federal Election Commission

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