If you glanced at the expense side of the report filed Wednesday night by President Obama's campaign committee, you might be excused for thinking there was a presidential election afoot.
Obama for America, the fundraising juggernaut that powered Obama's ascent to the presidency, spent nearly $9.5 million in the first three months of this year, including $684,000 on telemarketing and print and online advertising, $994,000 on event staging and $310,000 on payroll and taxes.
To be sure, some of the payments stem from bills accrued in early January — or even the end of last year — before Obama took the oath of office, and others come from normal shut-down costs. Plus the campaign committee is no longer raising money; it came into the year with $18.3 million in the bank and finished the first quarter with $10 million on hand.
Yet the report shows that Obama's campaign continued to be of use well after Election Day and suggests it still maintains some semblance of operational capacity.
Last month alone, it paid $74,000 in payroll, $23,000 for rent, $10,000 for polling and $6,400 for travel.
Other interesting payments during the first three months of the year, the period covered by Wednesday's report, included $688,000 in legal fees to the firm of Bob Bauer — the top lawyer for the campaign, the Democratic National Committee, the Obama political group Organizing for America, and the Obama family — and $6,400 to a firm founded by Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden. - Politico Story
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