The outcome of this year's White House election remains up in the air, but one thing is certain -- the bid to succeed US President George W. Bush will be the most expensive race in history.
The cost of the last presidential campaign in 2004, considered a peak for its time, was US$693 million.
Common estimates of this year's total outlay have tended to come in at around US$1 billion, and Fortune magazine recently upped its overall cost projection to US$3 billion.
As a historical comparison, the campaign two decades ago that saw Republican George H.W. Bush succeed Ronald Reagan at the White House cost US$59 million.
Historians believe that the nation's 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, spent US$100,000 in his bid to take the executive office in 1860.
In the countdown to "Super Tuesday" on Feb. 5, when 22 states including New York and California hold their primary elections, White House hopefuls are furiously bolstering their campaign war chests.
The official tally of campaign finances for last year will not be published until Jan. 31 by the Federal Election Commission, but top Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have already released their numbers.
The former first lady and current New York senator's campaign said she raised a total of US$115 million last year, of which US$24 million was raised during the last few months of the year.
Illinois Senator Obama has said his drive raised US$103 million last year of which US$22.5 million came in during the last part of the year.
Clinton and Obama's campaigns raked in several million dollars more -- over US$6 million for Clinton and US$8 million for Obama -- following the country's first nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire earlier this month.
The campaign for Republican candidate Rudolph Giuliani, who despite an early swell of support has been trailing in the presidential polls, has admitted to funding woes.
Giuliani said on Friday his campaign has US$12.7 million, of which US$7 million is available as ready cash, and amid the cash shortage top staffers have agreed to go without their paychecks this month.
The admission by Giuliani's camp exposed the risks of his strategy, which aimed to reserve most of its energy and cash for the influential state of Florida and its Jan. 29 primary, while rivals began spending heavily and gaining momentum in earlier nominating contests.
"It's not how much you raise, but how much you've got when you need it the most," said Dennis Johnson, associate dean of the school of political management at George Washington University.
Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney, a wealthy Mormon businessman, has already dished out US$17 million of his own, and early last week he divulged that he had reached in his own pocket for more -- though he did not say how much -- to fund his campaign in the blue-collar state of Michigan.
Of all the political aspirants in this year's White House push, Romney, formerly the governor of Massachusetts, has spent the most cash on his campaign.
According to his own estimates, as of Sep. 30 he had spent an average of US$100,000 per day over the first nine months of the year.
But with Romney trailing in the polls, the breakout success of Republicans Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee and Arizona Senator John McCain has shown that money is not enough to win the election.
Just six months ago, McCain's campaign was widely viewed as dead in the water amid a cash crunch, and Huckabee had raised just US$20 million by the end of September.
But McCain surged to victory in New Hampshire and Huckabee surprised the nation with a come-from-nowhere victory in the Iowa nominating caucuses.
And in a sign that success just breeds more success, Huckabee raised US$8 million in the last three months of last year and US$2 million more in the first weeks of this month, just after his Iowa splash.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number