Polls Close - Contributions Are Not

If you believe the political polls, the presidential race is a virtual dead heat. The two candidates are separated by statistically insignificant numbers (numbers within the polls' margin of error). But I'm not sure the polls really know what is happening in this election. After all, they were wrong far more than they were right in the primaries and caucuses.

But there's no doubt who is winning in the amount of political contributions. Obama has outraised McCain in every month so far, and that did not change last month. In August, Obama raised about $18 million more than McCain did. Obama raised $65 million, while McCain raised $47 million.

It looks like those who give political contributions are betting that Obama will win this election. This is unusual. In recent years, it has become commonplace for Republican presidential candidates to outraise Democratic candidates.

That is because the rich and the corporate interests are very willing to spend money to see their interests are protected. But it looks like even they believe this election is likely to produce an Obama victory. Many of them are now trying to hedge their bets by giving to the Democratic campaign. This, added to the many small contributions being received by Obama, has allowed him to easily outraise the Republican candidate.

Together, the two candidates spent $94 million in August, mostly on advertising in the so-called "toss-up" states where polls show the race is very close. That is a record-breaking $3 million dollars a day.

Evidently, both candidates have decided that the race is over in Texas. The only advertising being seen in Texas is that bought on the national news networks (CNN, MSNBC, etc.). I think that's a shame.

Texas might actually be in play if some money and effort was put in to the state by Democrats. In the Spring primary, the Democrats were able to turn out a significantly larger number of voters than the Republicans.