spending =/= funds raised
ahead of schedule massively underbudget. how a proper firm runs

This post was edited by excellence on Jul 19 2016 10:01am

The thing is, if you actually think that some donations from one industry could be influential enough to override the widely-shared, long-held national platform then no offense but you ARE an idiot (to use your word, not mine) because that's rarely if ever happened in the Democratic party. To quote Paul Ryan: it's a binary election. People who are going to donate have to donate to one of them, so who's it gonna be? All the employees in all the different industries are competing against one another with their donations and they have to pick among the same two candidates, and they aren't making their decision on the basis of one position, or even one issue, or even on just what's happened in one CYCLE.

Obama and the Democrats told the financial services industry exactly what they were going to do throughout 2007/2008 on banking reform, then he got elected/their majorities grew and they passed Dodd-Frank. Some of the employees were angry with him and some weren't, some donated to him and others to Romney (most of the money went to Romney) but they had to pick someone. Most of the industry money will go to Clinton this year but that's only because Trump is unfit for office, in addition to the fact that his fundraising apparatus is garbage. When she jumped into the race she released a set of proposals that was incredibly aggressive in how it wanted to rein in Wall Street, it was more aggressive than anything Bernie Sanders ever suggested and far more specific, and she made those proposals when she had every reason to believe that the GOP would find some way to let Jeb or Rubio buy the nomination. If that had happened, the industry money would have flooded to one of them instead of default to her on account of Trump being unfit for office, but we still know what's going to happen if Clinton and enough Democrats get elected in November: they're going to pass as many of the reforms as they possibly can get over top of Republican opposition/obstruction, because that's what they always do. They don't know any other way to be for better or worse.



Uh, yeah, expenditures tend to be a pretty fair representation of receipts in that you have to actually have the money to spend it. He hasn't been advertising because his fundraising has been historically poor month after month. She's advertising because she's raising money just fine, in addition to making other expenditures that are going to help her campaign (digital, data, field, etc) that he just hasn't been making.

He's severely BEHIND schedule if anything. There isn't a single thing about Trump's campaign emblematic of how a proper campaign is run. He needs to turn it around or he's at risk of getting triaged in September/October.

If donations from Wall Street, corporations, or banks don't affect the political behavior of politicians, then what is the point of trying to overturn Citizens United?

aye right on it

Trump has a better shot at winning this thing than most people. including me, might think. He's widdled down a 7-8 point HRC lead to about 3-4 points over the past few weeks (even excluding the convention bounce), he's done a lot better of a job raising money recently, and he's started polling a little closer in states like Ohio and Florida.

I started thinking Hillary was going to pull away with it after Trump's disastrous early-to-mid June, but it appears that no lead is completely safe. Since 1972, the leader in the polls one month after the conventions has won the Presidency every time:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/election-update-clintons-lead-is-as-safe-as-kerrys-was-in-2004/

In mid-August, we will have a really good idea who will win. I still think it's going to be Hillary. But I shouldn't be so sure. Trump has a decent shot at this.

We will see what kind of dirt Trump opposition has and what kind of trouble he and his campaign get into but I'm still plenty optimistic

Hillary has weathered the storms and thus far the biggest one which was the threat of indictment. I doubt she has many skeletons left that will come out that haven't already which means as long as she continues to weather and doesn't screw up big time (unlikely) I'm sure it's hers

I think the debates will be massacres in her favor and he will continue to fall short on details and plans.

Trump could have beaten her had he had competent people around him and he played it smart. That's the scary part to me the fact that he could have pulled this off.

Yep, her biggest skeletons are probably out of her closet. Trump probably still has a few left that Hillary and her team are strategically saving.

I wouldn't be so sure about calling the race just yet, though. She's definitely the heavy favorite, but anything can happen, especially with a candidate as unorthodox as Trump.

I actually think the debates could either way. Trump has really thrived in previous debates. He gets very personal, he's immune to most political decency standards, and he's very quick. He has become a very skilled politician very quickly.

Hillary is more experienced than the likes of little Marco and co, though. I expect she will remain poised and keep the debates and the contest about real issues and substance. That's where she will thrive.

If she falters, though, Trump could really do some damage. She can't afford to enter the ring of personal attacks and all that drama. That's Trump's expertise. He's going to try and pull her down and make the debates into a reality TV show, but Hillary can't let him.

roflmao this please

You'd think, but there's enough dirt on the Clinton's for this election cycle to be dominated by scandals we already knew about. I'm sure sufficient digging could bring more to light.

Although Trump has proven he wouldn't need to. Hillary has no answer for lying to the American people about the motivation for Bengazi, lying to the FBI, lying to Congress. She can't dodge the accusations of dishonesty in any way, shape or form since these are all heavily documented. And Trump's game has proven how hammering the same criticism can work. It's a repetition game. Lyin' Ted, Little Marco, Crooked Hillary.

This post was edited by PlasmaSnake101 on Jul 20 2016 09:49am