Composite Spending
How did the Browne Campaign spend its money to get its half percent of the vote?
The primary beneficiary of the Browne general election Campaign’s spending was LNC, Inc.; it received $117,000. Sharon Ayres received $57,000. Other Browne campaign staffers received rather less.
Are these numbers of interest? The Libertarian Party’s Presidential candidate is selected by unbound delegates elected from the several states. Libertarians across the country have limited information about Presidential campaigns. They select National Convention delegates who they trust rather than voting directly for a Presidential candidate about whom they can know little. The delegates have the duty to understand issues and study possible candidates.
The Party rank and file might not have examined the 1996 Browne campaign. Browne’s supporters in the higher reaches of the Libertarian establishment remained responsible to the people who elected them. Before they supported Browne in 2000, it was their moral duty to look under the hood of Browne’s machine. What had Browne done in 1996? What would another Browne Campaign provide the Party?
I begin with a table, showing what Browne spent during his 1996 election campaign. The periods in the Table are FEC reporting periods as fixed by FEC regulations. “Pre-General” is the first 18 days of October. “Near General” is mid-October through late November.
| 1996 Post-Nomination Spending
MONTH INCOME SPENDING |
CASH ON HAND, END OF MONTH |
| pre-Convention | $305,827 | $271,305 | $49,821 |
| July | $74,256 | 448,967 | $15,350 |
| August | $180,874 | $156,096 | $40,129 |
| September | $95,835 | $124,258 | $11,746 |
| Pre-General | $100,830 | $179,112 | $33,465 |
| Near General | $144,128 | $175,477 | $9,013 |
| December | $464 | $7,360 | $2,116 |
| Total, July-Dec. | $590,574 | $638,279 | — |
Income and spending peaked in August, and did well in the Near General period. All told, the Browne campaign brought in nearly $591,000, and spent nearly $640,000.
As an aside, compare total spending in 1996 with the 2000 campaign, which is fresher in many readers’ memories. For 2000, Browne spent:
2000 Post-Nomination Spending
| PERIOD INCOME SPENDING CASH ON HAND | NOTES
END OF MONTH |
pre-
Convention $560,000 $582,000 $12,022(a) (a) net of campaign debt
July $110,727 $133,896(m) $19,854 (m) $10,000 loan repaid to Browne
August $259,905 $229,680(n) $50,078 (n) $10,000 loan repaid to Browne
September $160,752 $188,857(p) $21,947 (p) $7,500 loan paid off to Browne
Pre-General $167,165 $163,331(q) $25,781 (q) $2,500 loan paid off to Browne
Near General $264,944 $270,266(r) $20,460 (r) $1,500 loan paid off to Browne
December $43,369 $63,521 $309
Browne 2000 in each reporting period collected and spent about two-thirds more money than Browne 1996 did. The 2000 Campaign’s improvement was more marked before the National Convention. In both 1996 and 2000, spending was largest in August and in the near-General periods.
The ‘size of the campaign’ quoted here, namely two-thirds of a million dollars in 1996 and one million dollars in 2000, is far smaller than numbers quoted by some other Libertarians. If you want to inflate these numbers in mostly meaningless ways, add to the spending total for the active campaign the pre-nomination campaign spending (which pushes the 2000 campaign up to 2.4 million dollars). Better yet, add to the total the entire LNC budget, as though the LNC did absolutely nothing except field a candidate for President.
Where did the 1996 money go? For the same period, FEC reports reveal answers, to be discussed next time.
