Obama Campaign Downplays Fundraising Gap, Donors Worried

The Obama Campaign is still stuck in the first stage of grief: denial. They are trying to reassure their supporters that just because the Romney campaign has raised more money than Obama for the third straight month, there is no sad ending for Obama.

Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign, told reporters, “We know we will be outspent — that’s just the reality.” Don Peebles, a member of Obama’s finance committee, said of Obama, “He’s making a strong showing with a very large pool of donors. Those are very significant numbers, and if Romney is outraising Obama the past couple of months, it’s not enough time to catch up.” Tad Devine, a senior adviser to the Gore and Kerry campaigns, whistled in the dark,  

Overall, Romney is going to be in a much better position than McCain, who was massively outspent. But I don’t think he’s going to have the same advantage that the president had over McCain. I don’t mean to diminish it — I think it’s a real advantage — but he’s not bringing in three or four times as much money.

It doesn’t get much more delicious than this. The Obama fundraisers keep denying there’s a problem, and as for the donors – they’re panicked. One longtime donor said:

I keep telling people we need to step it up a bit. Now’s the time. Not two months from now. We’re still winning in the overall game, but we can’t be complacent. We need to keep throwing in more money.

Some Democrats have moved on to the second stage of grief: anger. (It sounds more like whining, but they are Democrats.) Speaking of those infernal Super-Pacs, one Democrat said, “It’s the one constant source of frustration. We’re watching the other side rack up nine figures and we need more money on our side to drive the narrative in ads in swing states.”

The Romney campaign raised $101.3 million in July; the Obama campaign $75 million.

So where does the Obama campaign go from here? According to the five stages of grief, the next stage will be bargaining. It should be interesting to see what the Obama campaign has to offer in exchange for dollars from the depressed and hungry citizens of America. But the people may have company soon; once the bargaining goes nowhere, the Obama campaign can move on to the fourth stage of grief: depression.

Now that’s something conservatives can be happy about.