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~SITE
PHILOSOPHY~ This site is provided by
enlighten technologies, inc.�, an Iowa based
corporation, and is intended as a resource
rich research site aimed at giving back to the
community and the state of Iowa in
appreciation for all those who have helped us
these past thirteen years to succeed in the
law service industry. We feel that
helping to promote the State of Iowa Caucus is
an important part of the political process and
is beneficial to both our community and
the State of Iowa.
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How much money was spent on
the 2008 Iowa Caucus?
After
the final count of the Iowa Caucus on January 3rd, it
appears that an estimated $51,593,849 was spent by candidates
on the 2008 Iowa Caucus.
This number would include TV, radio, and newspaper ads, along with campaign headquarter
rentals, hotels, food, car rentals, and other transportation costs such
as buses and flights. The aforementioned estimate is based on a formula that
calculates the amount spent on advertising and couples that with 1/30 of the individual
candidates total operational expenses obtained from FEC Filings for the year
end on December 31, 2007. This site had projected that the amount
spent on the Iowa Caucuses would be
around $30,132,000 total from both parties participating in the
Iowa Caucus (See
the Projections). Our projections were based on $1.00 to $1.50
spent per Iowa Voter, but the estimated amount is
closer to $2.05 spent per Iowa Voter per candidate, therefore, our projections were off by
$21,461,848.
The money raised and
spent for just TV ads for the Iowa Caucuses was estimated at between
$37,750,000
and 43,000,000 according to the sources quoted below.
How much did
the candidates spend in total before the Iowa Caucus?
The 16 candidates for
the 2008 presidential election raised and
spent a grand total of $457,802,866 by the end of 2007, although fundraising
and expenditures for the presidential candidates did not stop after the Iowa
Caucus. The candidates who remained in the running after the Iowa
Caucus continued to
raise funds and spend more money for the succeeding primaries and caucuses
throughout the United States in January. With this being such an aggressive
campaign year by both parties, the amount spent in pre-caucus positioning was a record
high, and
with spending increasing steadily after the Iowa Caucus, this election to
date will be one of the most expensive presidential elections in U.S.
history.
How much money did each
candidate spend on the Iowa Caucus?
The role of the Iowa
Caucus
was in essence an opportunity to clear out half of the political candidates
who would not have been able to continue campaigning after Iowa. With that said, the amount of money raised
before the Iowa Caucus does not necessarily represent the actual amount the
candidate spent in Iowa. In fact, the numbers below show that just a small
proportion of the total amount raised before the Iowa Caucus was actually spent in the state of Iowa. Most of the money raised and spent was
allocated for campaign salaries and campaigning outside the state of Iowa.
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Democratic
Spending for the Iowa Caucus: |
| Candidate |
Ads
(TV only) |
Iowa
Campaign |
Net
Operation Expenditures 12-31-07 |
| Obama |
$9,000,000.00 |
$2,784,296.56* |
$83,528,897.62 |
| Edwards |
$3,200,000.00 |
$1,046,417.61 |
$33,355,944.61 |
| Clinton |
$7,200,000.00 |
$2,587,983.20* |
$77,639,495.81 |
| Richardson |
$3,000,000.00* |
$707,243.60* |
$21,217,308.64 |
| Biden |
$1,800,000.00# |
$652,134.58 |
$9,391,046.00 |
| Dodd |
$1,800,000.00# |
$1,344,398.38 |
$14,005,522.80 |
| Gravel |
$0.00* |
0.00* |
$498,229.34 |
| Kucinich |
$0.00* |
0.00* |
$3,637,059.87 |
| Total |
$26,000,000.00 |
$9,122,473.93 |
$243,273,504.70 |
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Republican
Spending for the Iowa Caucus: |
| Candidate |
Ads
( TV only) |
Iowa
Campaign |
Net Operation Expenditures
12-31-07 |
| Huckabee |
$1,400,000.00 |
$236,368.46* |
$7,091,054.15 |
| Romney |
$7,000,000.00 |
$2,868,871.27* |
$86,066,138.54 |
| Thompson |
$1,100,000.00 |
$648,830.30* |
$19,464,909.72 |
| McCain |
$1,000,000.00* |
$325,245.76 |
$30,174,365.86 |
| Paul |
$1,000,000.00* |
$303,876* |
$20,262,083.95 |
| Giuliani |
$250,000.00* |
$237,000.00- |
$48,150,435.37 |
| Hunter |
0.00* |
$0.00* |
$2,267,463.91 |
| Cox |
0.00* |
$101,182.84 |
$1,052,909.98 |
| Total |
$11,750,000.00 |
$4,721,374.63 |
$214,529,361.50 |
TABLE KEY:
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* |
The total amount is
unknown. |
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# |
The total amount of advertisement
is based on wiscadproject.wisc.edu
findings. |
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- |
The amount is based on the first
three quarters only. |
Advertisements:
Figures were based on TV ads only.
Data was gathered from the
findings of the sources found below.
University of WI Ad Project
http://wiscadproject.wisc.edu/wiscad
University of Wisconsin
http://wiscadproject.wisc.edu/wiscads_pressrelease_020108.pdf
CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/01/iowa.ad.spending/
Iowa Campaign:
The total amount spent in the candidates campaign up to December
31, 2007 was divided by 1/30 to produce the estimations. Campaign spending
amounts that were available were verified on the FEC site. The numbers in this
field represent spending on
transportation, staffing expenses, food, hotel, and other
items for the candidate in Iowa as an estimation only. Data was based on
the sources found below.
FEC Presidential
Reports
http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2007/YE/
FEC Summary Reports
http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/srssea.shtml
Operation
Expenditures up to 2008:
Figures are from Fec.gov for the year up to the Iowa caucuses. Only
a small portion of these amounts were spent in Iowa.
FEC Presidential
Reports
http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2007/YE/
FEC Summary Reports
http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/srssea.shtml
FEC Campaign Finance
Political
Fundraising Map
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/
New Haven Advocate
http://www.newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=4230
How does a candidate do well in the Iowa
Caucuses?
It looks like the best way for a
presidential candidate to do well in Iowa would be to focus on five major areas of
their campaign. First, the earlier a candidate can get started in Iowa, the
greater the impact of their publicity will be on the public. So if an individual
decides they are going to run for President, they may want to announce it as soon as the pre-caucus year starts. Second, the more visits a presidential
candidate makes to the
state of Iowa, the better it helps to get that presidential candidates name out
to
the public in order to create word-of-mouth advertising. Third, take
advantage of the local news and press in the state of Iowa. Appearing on Iowa
Press, an Iowa PBS program, helped to garner several of the candidates free air time.
In addition, participating in local newspaper articles in different cities
throughout the state also helps to spread awareness about a candidate into
different areas that will hold caucuses and help choose a winning candidate.
Fourth, and most importantly, invest in a budget to get volunteers and a good
campaign committee set up in the state. In a caucus state such as Iowa, you need to have
plenty of volunteers and foot soldiers to get your name, campaign slogan, and
platform issues out to the local public. The Iowa Caucus is
always about organization and finding individuals who have worked in the past with
other successful Iowa Caucuses or individuals in the state who have helped get
individuals elected in the state. Those candidates who have been able to
organize a successful ground game can usually expect to take big leads on caucus night.
Fifth, and finally, candidates need to keep their name on the minds of the
Iowa public by using TV or Internet advertisements. This is important for
individuals who may not make it out to one of your visits as you travel throughout the
state, or individuals who have been to one of your visits but need more
convincing. There may not be one clear cut way to win the Iowa Caucus, but
these five tips should help put your name on the lips of the mainstream public
in Iowa.
How much money can one person
contribute to a campaign?
The Federal Election Commission
is best suited to quote contribution amounts and limits on those
amounts. The
agency has put together the guidelines for contribution rates per
individual citizen and per committee.
(See http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/contrib.shtml.)
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What are some projections for the Iowa Caucus of
2012?
Judging by the number of candidates
in the 2008 race, which was a total of 16 for both political parties, the
2008 Iowa Caucus will probably be one of the most expensive in Iowa history and is
doubtful to be repeated anytime soon. Especially considering the fact that
if one of the parties
nominates a sitting president, it may be another eight years before a vice
president will be running. Even in that case, it's doubtful the
massive amounts spent in 2008 will be surpassed because the vice president usually
ends up being the party favorite and nominee and, therefore, doesn't need to
spend the money introducing himself as a candidate. Furthermore, the
public will already know the vice president and will have formed an opinion
that will likely influence their vote at the Iowa Caucus. It's most likely that the money spent on
the next Iowa Caucus will not amount to $51,593,849. More likely, Iowa will see a total
closer to $17,000,000. In
addition, Iowa may not be the first state to act as a political clearing
field of future presidential candidates because there is a remote
possibility that Iowa may have to share the First-in-the-Nation title with another
state. However, with Florida and Michigan being heavily sanctioned by
the DNC and RNC and stripped of delegates for scheduling their caucuses and
primaries before February 5th, most states wouldn't want to contend with a
similar fate. Considering neither the Democrats nor the Republicans
were able to announce a nominee for their party until March 4th, and only after 39 states had
cast their votes in the primary season, it seems even more important that
the entire process be allowed to play out from beginning to
end before a nominee is presumed. Since Iowa did not
predict either of the political
parties' top nominee, future Iowa Caucuses may not be viewed as being as
important as they have been and, therefore, the amount of money spent in any
future Iowa Caucuses will be modest compared to the Iowa Caucus of 2008, and
it's doubtful any other states would want to move their caucus up to fight over a shrinking campaign budget for the 2012 election.
It seems that now many
states are looking at being the final decision maker and the best way to
do that is to be near the end of the primary season not the beginning. Therefore,
the likelihood of
Iowa remaining an early indicator of the top candidates, if not the top
nominees, will be uninterrupted for 2012 and the idea of Iowa
being a political clearing field before the gauntlet of the primary states
will remain intact.
What are some changes that we may see
in the 2012 Iowa Caucus?
In the next Iowa Caucus we will
definitely see more Internet activity, everything from advertisements of
banner ads and video clips to grassroots campaign fundraising. All of the newly
discovered and innovative campaign strategies we've seen emerge in the
2008 race will be in play in 2012 and will in some
way involve the Internet. One of the most important features of the
campaigns in the 2008 election was an aggressive use of the Internet for fundraising.
Not since 2004 and Howard Dean's utilizing the Internet to achieve success
have we seen such a dramatic
increase in the number of candidates employing the Internet as a fundraising
tool. Just as Howard Dean was successful in 2004, Obama was successful with
his skilled use of the Internet as a campaign fundraising strategy in
2008. The Internet will surely be deemed a necessity for all future Iowa
Caucus participants faced with the challenge of fundraising. A
majority of the candidates in 2008 also participated in online social sites
such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Flickr, to make themselves available to a larger
audience - the young and mobile. In addition to all of the above changes, the
future presidential campaigns will see a much greater
growth in the type of interaction political candidates have with potential
voters. Future candidates will have websites with more interactivity with
the possibility of videoconferencing on the future political horizon in 2012. This
would in essence allow the political candidate an opportunity to connect
with voters on a deeper and more meaningful level and will allow the
candidate to basically be in two places at once. Imagine future
presidential candidates having an intimate chat with constituents in a coffee shop
in Iowa, which is then broadcast live over the Internet on their website for
all of America to view. It's the possibility of reaching an incredibly
unprecedented number of individuals that might not otherwise have been able
to attend a meet-and-greet to get to know the candidate. Future
campaign websites may even offer volunteers the opportunity to build their own sub-websites
within the main
presidential candidate's website, allowing them to interact with elected
officials in the local area sharing the valuable resource of voter
information or
gathering e-mail lists and even taking their own surveys on the individuals
who live in a specific geographic region. The Internet may very well
mark the beginning of the end of the old dog who can't be taught new tricks.
Is the Iowa Caucus important in this
process?
The caucuses are primarily for the
Democratic and Republican parties. In the last 30+ years, starting in the 1970s when Iowa moved its'
caucus to be the first caucus in the nation, Iowa has become a predictor in identifying the top
three candidates from both parties. Only those candidates
who
finish in the top half of their party typically move on to campaign strong
in other states. In fact, in the past, the Iowa Caucuses have become more of a
clearing field in determining which candidates will stay in the race and which
candidates will throw in the towel. This would appear to be a more accurate
depiction of Iowa's role in the presidential campaigns than in determining which
candidate will be nominated by their respective party. Iowa does play a
big part in allowing candidates a chance
to showcase their political prowess to a fairly middle of the road state. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_caucus.)
Iowa appears to be picking up on the nation's mood as a whole
because, for
the last nine Iowa Caucuses, Iowa has identified the nation's two primary picks
for the top runner from both the Democratic and
Republican party in five out of nine caucuses. However, as time goes on, the importance of Iowa may become more
significant to the individual candidates running for president than to their
individual party simply because it may be cheaper to campaign in Iowa than
in many of the other states entertaining the notion of scheduling their primaries closer to the
Iowa Caucus. A win in an early state that is cheaper
to campaign in gives an advantage to those candidates who would
normally not have the funds to campaign in a larger state. Larger
states will cost the candidates a greater amount of upfront capital to campaign
per registered voter. In addition, Iowa has its' population clustered into regions
within the state, which makes it easier
to reach potential audiences. Campaigning in a state like Iowa has
advantages over larger states because their media outlets will focus on candidates
as though they were celebrities, giving them free press and headline news,
whereas other states would continue to cater to local celebrities, athletes, and business leaders,
giving them the coverage and headline news, which would overshadow a
political campaign candidate.
Iowa and other states
of similar size are playing a
larger role in close elections because of the electoral college. In 2000,
the difference between the winner and loser was only five electoral votes,
which means states like Arkansas, Tennessee, and Iowa can change an
election outcome drastically.
(See http://www.c-span.org/classroom/govt/electoral-cards.asp.)
(See http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itdhr/1004/ijde/cook.htm.)
We thank the following resources:
National Archives
http://www.archives.gov/
Federal Election Commission
http://www.fec.gov/
U.S. Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov/
OpenSecrets.org
http://www.crp.org/
Wisconsin Advertising Project
http://www.polisci.wisc.edu/tvadvertising/
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_caucus
C-SPAN Electoral College
http://www.c-span.org/classroom/govt/electoral-cards.asp
e-JournalUSA 2004 Electoral College Article
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itdhr/1004/ijde/cook.htm
Current Money Raised and Spent
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/index.asp
http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/cancomsrs/?_08+00+PR
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