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ASSOCIATED PRESS
President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence react to supporters during a rally.
WASHINGTON >> Donald Trump’s campaign spent about $94 million in its final push for the White House, according to new fundraising reports filed Thursday.
The Republican continued his campaign-long trend of spending far less than Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Her campaign blew through almost $132 million in its closing weeks, according to reports filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. The latest reports cover Oct. 20 through Nov. 28.
Over the course of the primary and general elections, the Trump campaign raised about $340 million. That included $66 million that the billionaire businessman contributed from his own pocket. The Clinton campaign, which maintained a longer and more concerted fundraising focus, brought in about $581 million.
Brad Parscale, Trump’s digital director who was empowered with spending decisions across the campaign, credited strategic last-minute investments with helping propel the political newcomer to victory.
Specifically, he told The Associated Press, the campaign and Republican Party spent about $5 million in get-out-the-vote digital advertising targeted in the final few days to Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida. That proved critical; some of those states were won by razor-thin margins.
“You think, what if we hadn’t spent that?” Parscale said. “We might not have won.”
Another investment that he said paid dividends was $7 million to air a two-minute “closing” television commercial. “Our movement is about replacing the failed and corrupt political establishment with a new government controlled by you, the American people,” he said as images from his rallies rolled across the screen.
The final FEC report showed the extent of the Trump advertising splurge. The campaign spent nearly $39 million on last-minute TV ads and another $29 million on digital advertising and consulting work done by Parscale’s firm.
Clinton’s campaign placed a far greater emphasis than Trump on television advertising, a more traditional way of reaching swaths of voters. She spent $72 million on TV ads and about $16 million on internet ads in the final weeks.
The former secretary of state also spent more than $12 million on travel — about double what Trump spent. Clinton, who not only had a money advantage over Trump but a staffing edge, spent more than $4 million on a nearly 900-strong payroll.
Still, Clinton’s top campaign aides have acknowledged in post-election appearances that it didn’t always spend money in the right places.
Her campaign manager Robby Mook said at a gathering of political strategists and journalists last week at Harvard University that he regretted not putting more staff in Michigan. When the state certified its results — 20 days after the election— Trump had won by just under 11,000 votes.
Outside groups that spent money on the presidential election also filed reports Thursday.
Trump got help from the super political action committees Future 45, Make America Number 1 and Rebuilding America Now.
Future 45 and a partner nonprofit that does not disclose donors spent late in the campaign but became Trump’s biggest outside investors. Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, together gave $10 million to Future 45 in the final weeks of the campaign, the new reports show.
Former wrestling executive Linda McMahon, who Trump named this week as head of the Small Business Administration, gave $1 million to the group in October. She’d earlier given $6 million to Rebuilding America Now.
Make America Number 1 benefited from a $1 million donation by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, now an executive on the Trump transition team.
On Clinton’s side, Priorities USA — which raised and spent more than any super PAC in history — landed $16 million in the final weeks of the campaign. That brought its total haul to about $192 million.
Some of the group’s final seven-figure contributions came from its most loyal donors: media mogul Haim Saban and investors James Simons and Donald Sussman.
The 2016 election is over — but the fundraising continues.
The president-elect has raised millions of dollars since Nov. 8. That money is coming in mostly through purchased merchandise such as hats and ornaments and is paying for Trump’s “thank you” tour, which took him to Ohio and Iowa on Thursday.
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go to http://www.greatagain.gov and give your ideas of how to improve America.
I’m so grateful & happy that Americans, a Basket of Deplorables, did what needed to be done to bring back America.
Voted for P.E.Trump & V.P. E. Pence who have already started to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Unprecedented!
January 20, 2017 will finally end the nightmare of the last 8 years!
#MAGA
the democrat party had everything they needed for their anointed candidate to ascend to the presidency. they had superior funding, superior experienced party machine workers in every state, a highly motivated advertising crew flooding the media with clinton’s attack ads on trump and they had the cooperation of the main stream media printing the democrat party talking points disguised as fake news.
the democrat party failed to connect with main stream americans.
the rallies for clinton, late in the race, were so sparsely attended that room dividers were shuttered to make the attendance appear larger. the attendees themselves lacked energy and enthusiasm. her audiences seemed to be stunned that the main stream media failed to kill stories of clinton’s misuse of classified information, her rapidly failing health on the campaign trail, the secrecy surrounding party leaders’ attempts to block sander’s campaign and the deep seated corruption in the clinton family charity foundation.
in contrast, trump’s rallies were filled with enthusiastic energized americans of all races, religion and walks of life, who connected with trump’s desire to improve the economy, secure the borders, provide for national security in the face of radical islamic terrorism, and correct the failed obama policies in iran, north korea, syria, libya, china, and the mid-east that clinton promised to continue in her administration.
perhaps, what the democrats really needed in this campaign was someone deserving the presidential nomination and not just another cheap attempt to elect a first.
Informed and well said!
January 20, 2017 #MAGA
The HOPE that Trump enstilled in his base is what I noticed…his supporters were/ are INTENSLY focused on their narrative and he echoed that INTENSITY right back to them…They weren’t going to be stopped no matter what he did, he was going to be their CHANGE, their Obama (I know!)…His statement about shooting someone in the street and his supporters not caring, although a bad example on his part, showed the commitment to the CAUSE that they had/ have. His supporters (Trump and Republican) couldn’t walk away from him like many Clinton/ Democrat supporters did…Trump tapped into their EMOTION and stayed there, Clinton connected through the mind and not the SOUL of many voters. #MAGA
“We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.” Maya Angelou
I was not a Trump supporter and I did not vote for him. I certainly did not vote for Hillary. It pained me greatly, as this was the first Presidential election in my adult life in which I didn’t vote Republican. That said, Trump’s actions and appointments since 11/8 have impressed me more than any President-elect I can remember, and while I’m still apprehensive as to what 2017 may hold, I have absolutely loved the degree to which Trump has exposed the cowardice, hypocrisy, arrogance and POO-SAY-A-SS-NESS of the Left as efficiently as he struck down jokers like Jeb and Rand.
I hate to say it but I was wrong in how I voted and, by every measurable standard, things are looking up in America. Trump may not be Ronald Reagan, but he certainly is trending in that direction. It took eight years but some REAL “Hope” and “Change” may be heading our way now.
YOTARE,
I commend you for your honesty, sincerity, and maturity. I can only hope that more Americans like you will come around, start to feel better and help to end the division in our country. Although there were more than two candidates on the ballot, in the end I knew we had just two imperfect vessels to choose from to steer this country in a different direction. I knew only one of them would be a change from the status quo, and that’s the direction I took. So far I have no regrets and I also feel that things are looking up.
LNR
IMO, 8 years of Barry and the inept Rep. Politicians in Washington with no backbone played a major role for P.E. Donald Trump. Even Paul Ryan spoke of acknowledging that TheDonald heard the plight of the middle class plight in America. The Rich can afford it, the poor has the Government/State support and the Middle Class worker felt the brunt of hardships trying to make a go at it.
Does Clinton’s dollar amount include her contribution to Jill Stein for the recount?
The difference in skill sets between a community organizer and a dynamic business executive is apparent even before the latter has officially started in the job.
The presidential loss was mainly attributed to two people: Hiliary and Obama. Hillary was a flawed candidate and Obama is a flawed president. The American people were not influenced by the biased media to the likes of CNN and the rest of the alpha soup networks.