News organizations and influencers are talking about the fundraising results of the various presidential candidates. While it's easy for anyone to pick out a number to support a view that a given candidate is strong, that is unlikely to be accurate since campaign finance has become a complicated patchwork of overlapping entities with various reporting dates.
These entities include; campaign committees, political parties, leadership PACs, other PACs, super PACs, candidate personal funds, individuals, joint fundraising committees, organizations, and corporations. Some of these have strict disclosure requirements. Some have few if any disclosure requirements at all (dark money).
A campaign may report a relatively small amount of funds raised in a given quarter but may be backed by a PAC of some sort that has hundreds of millions of dollars on hand. Such a campaign could be spun as weak per the small number, or strong per the big number.
To get an accurate picture, the whole picture must be considered, but given it's complexity, that is not easily done.
These days, the only fundraising signal that can be considered indisputably accurate would be those from candidates who are raising little money at all. No matter how complex the fundraising picture may be, broke is broke.
These entities include; campaign committees, political parties, leadership PACs, other PACs, super PACs, candidate personal funds, individuals, joint fundraising committees, organizations, and corporations. Some of these have strict disclosure requirements. Some have few if any disclosure requirements at all (dark money).
A campaign may report a relatively small amount of funds raised in a given quarter but may be backed by a PAC of some sort that has hundreds of millions of dollars on hand. Such a campaign could be spun as weak per the small number, or strong per the big number.
To get an accurate picture, the whole picture must be considered, but given it's complexity, that is not easily done.
These days, the only fundraising signal that can be considered indisputably accurate would be those from candidates who are raising little money at all. No matter how complex the fundraising picture may be, broke is broke.
