How Kamala Harris Burned Through $1.5 Billion in 15 Weeks

[Passages]

Her frenzied spending has led to second-guessing among some Democrats and questions as she has pressed for more cash since the election.

By Shane Goldmacher
Nov. 17, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris spent a remarkable $1.5 billion in her hyper-compressed 15-week presidential campaign. But in the days since losing to President-elect Donald J. Trump, her operation has faced questions internally and externally over where exactly all that cash went.

Despite her significant financial advantage, Ms. Harris became the first Democratic presidential candidate to lose the national popular vote in two decades, ceding every battleground state to Mr. Trump.

Her cash-rich campaign spared no expense as it hunted for voters — paying for an avalanche of advertising, social-media influencers, a for-hire door-knocking operation, thousands of staff, pricey rallies, a splashy Oprah town hall, celebrity concerts and even drone shows.

It was a spree that averaged roughly $100 million per week.

The frenzied spending has led to second-guessing among some Democrats, including whether investing in celebrity-fueled events with stars such as Lady Gaga and Beyoncé was more ostentatious than effective.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/us/politics/harris-campaign-finances.html

If we change nothing, not messaging and delivery, and policy, we will continue to lose.

[MichMan]

1. Good for her. No one else's business

[jimfields33]

2. I think it's fair to get an accounting of money spent.

I’m sure every campaign does an after action report to tell donors where the money went. Most of her money came from small donors.

[Blue_Tires]

45. Just as soon as we get an accounting of what Donnie and Elmo spent

I'm so goddamn sick and tired of "the rules" only ever being applied to Dems 🤬

[FBaggins]

7. Oh... I think it's my business

Some of that was my money. And the party would like me to do it again in two and four years.

[quaint]

30. I'm *still* getting begging messages

...but I'm done donating to all politicians. Saving every penny I can with Social Security sunset coming.

[Blue_Tires]

47. You want a refund or something?

[blue cat]

51. Did you want them to not spend it?

I’d be mad if they didn’t give it all they’ve got.

[FBaggins]

58. I didn't reply to the fact that she had spent a bunch of money

Nor even that a bunch of money had been spent and we didn't win

I was replying to a comment that said that how the money was spent was nobody's business but the candidate.

Given the fact that the party will want my money again "next time" - I very much disagree.

[Igel]

40. The law says otherwise. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

46. Donnie gets to freely ignore the law, why shouldn't she?

[RandySF]

3. She left it all on the field.

[tintinvotes]

4. Sadly

If our votes were hacked, people were bribed or threatened (and it looks like they were) then our messaging, delivery and policy won't matter.

[rurallib]

5. MAGA Super-pacs had billions, Trump got billions in free coverage,

China, Russia and who knows else contributed in kind trolls etc. Not to mention a nation wide media advantage that is almost entirely MAGA from local TV to local radio and whatever newspapers still publish.

Where in the fuck do Dems have "Despite her significant financial advantage"?

Someone really needs to put a price tag on all the various moneys that pumped Trump

And I am not among those that say the message was bad. It is hard to get a message out when you have no media and the opponent owns all the media. It is like a mouse squeaking in a hurricane.

[Passages]

8. Yes. I agree in part too.

Many years ago we needed to get on with radio stations markets.

I mean independent of the party, platforms that speak to democratic beliefs and policy conversations.

Podcasts are not just for the Rogans of the world, and please, let us dump the celebrities; it is not working.

[John1956PA]

15. Also, undisclosed money bought tons of yard signs.

In Pennsylvania, yard signs create a bandwagon effect. Undisclosed money bought millions of Trump signs and paid for workers to disseminate them.

[doc03]

6. I am still getting Emails and texts every day wanting money nt

[Passages]

10. Me too, many a day.

[Gore1FL]

18. I unsubscribed.

When they asked me why, I pointed out the election was over.

[bronxiteforever]

9. We lost to a guy who pantomimed performing fellatio on a mic

He is going to be POTUS of the most technologically advanced society in the history of the world. Yet the Speaker of the House believes the earth is 6,000 years old and our top prosecutor will be a criminal and our health expert thought dropping the carcass of a road kill bear in the main park of the largest city in America was fun. He was in his 40s then btw.

This election is more than messaging. It is like millions of Americans wanted to try the most pure fentanyl available and just main line it. Millions of working class Americans believe the richest man on the planet is looking out for them.

Messaging can’t penetrate ignorance. “Nothing disturbs me more than the glorification of stupidity" - Carl Sagan

What can and will penetrate ignorance is the secondary consequences of actions but sometimes the Narcan doesn’t revive the patient.

[Passages]

12. I disagree. It is the job of the candidates to get through to the electorate.

Why were they so vulnerable? No one cause, but collective.

FDR thoughts on democracy and how we grow a healthy society.

Snip:
Democracy has disappeared in several other great nations – disappeared not because the people of those nations disliked democracy, but because they had grown tired of unemployment and insecurity, of seeing their children hungry while they sat helpless in the face of government confusion, government weakness, – weakness through lack of leadership in government. Finally, in desperation, they chose to sacrifice liberty in the hope of getting something to eat. We in America know that our own democratic institutions can be preserved and made to work. But in order to preserve them we need to act together, to meet the problems of the Nation boldly, and to prove that the practical operation of democratic government is equal to the task of protecting the security of the people.

Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our Government to give employment to idle men. The people of America are in agreement in defending their liberties at any cost, and the first line of that defense lies in the protection of economic security. Your Government, seeking to protect democracy, must prove that Government is stronger than the forces of business depression.

History proves that dictatorships do not grow out of strong and successful governments but out of weak and helpless governments. If by democratic methods people get a government strong enough to protect them from fear and starvation, their democracy succeeds, but if they do not, they grow impatient. Therefore, the only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over its government.
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/fireside-chat-on-the-recession/

[bronxiteforever]

13. I disagree with this messaging mantra of the mainstream press

I am a John Adams fan when it comes to the duty of citizenship.
John Adams believed in the importance of civic responsibilities. He believed that liberty and duty were intertwined. Adams noted, "Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people." For him, education and participation were the bulwark against despotism. Citizens are responsible to educate themselves and are not mere pawns in the game of life(apologies to Mel Brooks).

Also the FDR quotes were about the Country in a Great Depression. We are clearly not in a Great Depression but keep this quote on hand because the coming economic policies will be more Hoover than Hoover.

[Passages]

19. FDR quotes were reflective of the Great Depression, yes.

Last edited Wed Nov 20, 2024, 03:50 PM - Edit history (1)

WNYC had callers on air who were asked how the economy worked for them.

Many explained having two and three jobs and how difficult it was to get by.

Then the station had on economists who said that essentially the economy was doing quite well.

Telling voters you're too stupid to know how good you have it didn't work in our favor.

[LymphocyteLover]

23. Even if this is accurate, WNYC and economists are doing Dem messaging? How is this on Dems?

[Passages]

26. Even if what is accurate?

The point is WNYC is speaking to VOTERS.

How is the economy working for you. When people like Krugman don't digest what they are saying we are not learning about what they need.

[bronxiteforever]

27. I would not message that voters are stupid

I didn’t say that. I believe the present vote was way more than our messaging. The right wing has risen and that is what a substantial amount of Americans want.

We respectfully disagree on the fundamental issue of individual responsibility. You think that messaging and a party is responsible for voting. I am not willing to give the voters a pass for what they voted for.
Like the saying goes, you get the government you deserve.

Climate change messaging has been available for decades now. The climate is obviously changing but knowing that, we are going back to fossil fuels and the slogan windmills cause cancer.

I believe the Country is dying and messaging isn’t going to save it. The citizens have to want to save the Country’s institutions. We will see how many run to the rescue in the coming 4 years. Let’s hope you are right but I wouldn’t count on it!

.

[Passages]

34. Desperate people do desperate things which can have horrifying consequences.

Thus FDR's warnings work even today. Economic policy, human/civil rights policy, and a clear message to working people, not through celebrities.

One aspect that made me nuts was Harris had this fantastic policy to wipe out medical debt. The number one cause of bankruptcy
is medical debt.

So have many town halls and use surrogates, not celebrities, we have some awesome Democrats who could run them, and ask the public who is in debt to please attend. You get connected with voters' angst/troubles and you get your policy exposure to amend those situations, press coverage comes with it too.


I do like John Adams sense of responsibility, but with today's corporate media we must be more proactive. Look at Comcast News aka MSNBC, it's a joke and allegedly they're on our side.

[calimary]

52. "...and well enough informed"?????

When that “informed” part comes from Pox Noise?

Oh Dear God, it’s gonna be a LONG four years…

[Brenda]

35. RFK Jr. was 60 YEARS OLD when he dumped the bear, not 40 something.

But most excellent post bronxiteforever! Except for the incorrect age of the dude: I mean 40's would have been shocking enough.

It was 10 years ago he did that.

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/05/nx-s1-5063939/rfk-jr-central-park-bear-bicycle

RFK Jr. admits to dumping a dead bear in Central Park, solving a decade-old mystery
August 5, 2024

“I had to go to the airport, and the bear was in my car, and I didn’t want to leave the bear in the car because that would have been bad,” Kennedy continues.

Then, as he put it, “the little bit of the redneck in me” had an idea.

Kennedy just happened to have an old bike in his car, which he said someone had asked him to get rid of. He recalled that the city “had just put in the bike lanes” after a number of serious accidents, and decided to stage the bear in Central Park as if it had been hit by a bike.

“I wasn’t drinking, of course, but people were drinking with me who thought this was a good idea,” Kennedy said. “So we went and did that and we thought it would be amusing for whoever found it, or something.”

It also includes a photo of Kennedy, who was 60 at the time, posing with his hands inside the bear’s bloody mouth and an exaggerated grimace on his face.

“Maybe that’s where I got my brain worm,” he told the magazine.

Having posted that, I actually like a lot of his previous work and books that call out the revolving door of industry and government and what a disaster that is, especially with Big Pharma. But he clearly has lost his mind to even sit in the same room with Chump much less join in the new fascist administation.

[bronxiteforever]

38. Thank you for the correction Brenda. Even worse.

Junior just makes me feel sad and angry. I remember when he was a river keeper on the Hudson. I thought he was going to be a leader.

As an fyi my dad did work for both Jackie (when she was in the White House) and Ethel when Bobby was alive. My father, an Eisenhower republican, was so impressed with both women. He really got along with Ethel. We even got Christmas cards from Hickory Hill when Bobby was a NY Senator.

[Brenda]

39. Big Pharma has control...

Cool backstory.

Something is very wrong.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. Well, for one thing . . . .

SHE PAID HER VENUES where she held her rallies.

[JohnSJ]

14. Spare me this post analysis BS. We lost because labor split the vote, Latino's split the vote, the uncommitted, and the

anticipated number of women didn't turn out in the numbers expected. The reality is that too many people have no problem with a racist, sexist, and bigot, who tried to overthrow the government through an insurrection occupying the WH.

It wasn't our messaging, it was the foolishness of too many people who will pay a heavy price for that neglect, and the results of the damage that will be done will take at least a generation if at all as evidenced by a SC which will now enshrine a extreme conservative agenda for decades to come.

It was a choice between hate and division verses love and working together for a better future.

[Passages]

16. Change nothing?

[JohnSJ]

21. It wasn't the messaging why we lost. We live in a very sexist bigoted country. If that was not the case 50% of the

populace would not have voted for trump.

It really isn't rocket science.

If we change our messaging then we aren't the Democratic party anymore.

A woman's right to choose, civil rights, worker's rights, Social Security, Medicare, healthcare, the environment,, etc. etc. etc.

[Passages]

22. Disagree.

Twice Americans with large margins voted for Obama.

Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, not Trump.

We need to change and reach people without celebrities because Biden's policies, especially his anti-trust division, were outstanding. The candidates need to explain what they do and stand in a town hall with Khan and Kantner, not Oprah.

I never understood why Biden did not publicize Lina Khan and what relevance her work representing working people would mean for them. You don't start educating people a few months before an election and this one had Biden behind in the polls and Harris with 15 weeks to save the presidency.

We still have much to learn and change IMHO.

[JohnSJ]

36. The reason we lose is because our greatest strength is also are greatest weakness. We have an open tent, and that makes

us susceptible to division within the party, especially with those within the party that are one-issue voters.

The republican party is an exclusionary party.

[Passages]

37. It is our strength when you do both, economic and civil-human rights.

The Repubican Party was taken over by a demagogue who didn't expect to win in 2016. They were susceptible b/c their constituents were very angry, they got nothing from GW Bush but a stupid war and banks bailed out while they lost their homes.

We all have to be better armed to combat this hideous mess we are in. Trump never should have been able to win in 2016, and 2024. Lessons need to be learned, or I fear we will be lost for a very long time.

[appmanga]

55. This response is why black women in particular...

...are saying "To hell with these folks". The amount of people who dismiss that racism, misogyny, and bigot that turned this election is appalling, but unsurprising.

The folks who've been the most reliable Democratic voters, the consistent stalwarts, know what happened, but some folks deny it as it's an affront to them. We're not the "post-racial" society some want to believe we are and Trump tapped into that as well as the ignorance surrounding transgender people. But keep believing it was something else like "not knowing how to talk to people", or "being elitists", or "the price of eggs" because once the Democrats finish alienating their true base, they will be the permanent minority party.

[Keepthesoulalive]

17. You're doing their work for them

How about how much money did the trump campaign burn through, maybe compare the spending of both campaigns. The title is inflammatory designed to make you think that she was getting her hair done and pissing money away. She was doing 2 and three different rallies a day, she busted her ass and so did Tim . Stop parroting mainstream media’s bullshit and question why only one candidate spent a great deal of money trying to get her message out. The N.Y times is the problem.

[jimfields33]

32. He got a couple hundred thousand.

I remember many making fun of him because vice president Harris had a ton more money than the felon.

[Keepthesoulalive]

41. He received tons of soft money from musk, thiel

And other billionaires, free publicity from gossip hungry media and sanewashing from legacy media.
Madison square garden doesn’t come cheap and the buses they used to ferry the faithful. Oh yeah and the constant grift coins, sneakers , watches and other cheap trinkets. That article was not to inform it was to inflame and push the narrative she was either dishonest or couldn’t manage campaign finances . How about trump and his mountain of flaws.

[dalton99a]

20. The celebrity endorsements were useless and backfired big time

[LymphocyteLover]

25. How did they backfire? Trump had celebrity endorsements too, just different weirder celebrities

how are we supposed to control celebrity endorsements anyway?

[Blue_Tires]

43. But they didn't for Donnie because....?

[LymphocyteLover]

24. My one complaint about her campaign was a lack of really hard-hitting negative ads against Trump

They had SO MUCH material to work with to show how criminal, deranged and gross he was and totally fell down on the job.

[Passages]

28. Post mortems are interesting and this one will go on for some time.

[LymphocyteLover]

31. Yes, and the problem is the next election (hopefully there will be one) will be very different and

a lot of lessons we might take from this election will be almost useless in the next cycle... although I think it's clear Dems need a MUCH BETTER media strategy moving forward

[Passages]

33. omg, yes.

[Basso8vb]

29. Trashed

[Blue_Tires]

42. Wow, it's almost like she was trying to win a presidential election

How dare she

[Blue_Tires]

44. Is this punditspeak for "she tried too hard"?

😒

[Passages]

48. Not in my opinion.

That is a lot of money and we lost. Best to examine everything.

[Blue_Tires]

49. The only changes we could have possibly made

Would be to hire thousands of social media trolls and creating millions of bots to combat Donnie's disinfo...

Or since it's 100 percent legal now, we should have just been outright buying votes like Melon Husk did with his million dollar check giveaways...

[Delarage]

57. I'm afraid this may be true

Every comment section of any article (no matter how unrelated to politics it might be)....there were Trumpers spouting nonsense about Harris/Biden/libs, etc.

[CTyankee]

50. We got a late start. I don't think Biden was aware of his disability until that awful moment in the debate when he

blanked out. Kamala bravely took it all on and did everything right. I don't blame anybody on our side. We did our best under unfortunate circumstances.

[Biophilic]

53. She and her team had 3 friggin months to introduce her and get the message across.

Celebrities rule this country. They bring people in. I’m not into celebrities, don’t watch tv, movies, tiktok etc, but I still know most of them. They are our royalty. To use them in a way to get attention probably seemed like a good idea. And, yes, she paid for her venues and support needed in the towns. For you to go after her for this at this point is a cheap shot.

[Scrivener7]

54. Fuck the Times. Their bullshit helped get the felon elected. They're more ridiculous every day.

[JohnSJ]

56. Typical NY Times.