Trump, Clinton spending furiously as election nears
WASHINGTON — Defying his notorious stinginess, Donald Trump more than doubled his campaign spending last month compared to August. He burned through roughly $70 million as his standing in polls and among fellow Republicans dropped.
His Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, spent almost $83 million.
New finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission outlined their dramatically different approaches to the quest for the White House. Trump, while putting more money than ever into advertising, spent a fraction of the roughly $66 million Clinton poured into media buys.
Clinton’s payroll topped 800 people, coming in as her second-highest expense of the month, about $5.5 million. Trump paid roughly 350 employees and consultants. He has outsourced most of his on-the-ground voter contact to the Republican Party.
The New York real estate mogul has bragged until recently about his low-cost campaign and dismissed the need for television ads and polling services. But in September, he paid $23 million for commercials.
Perhaps a reflection of his newest campaign manager, pollster Kellyanne Conway, Trump appears to have a new interest in polling.
In August he paid Conway’s The Polling Company $130,000. Last month, he almost tripled his payment to her company, part of $1.7 million in September expenditures to five different polling firms.
Another big expense: Ousted campaign manager Corey Lewandowski received a total of $100,000.
Lewandowski was fired in June and quickly became a paid contributor to CNN. That hasn’t stopped him from collecting Trump campaign checks thanks to a contract. In September, his Green Monster Consulting firm collected what the campaign said was its final payout to him.
September was the best fundraising month for both candidates. Of the $100 million Trump said he raised for his presidential bid and his Republican partners, about $55 million went to his campaign.
Clinton’s campaign said she raised $154 million, and her September filing showed about $74 million of that ended up in her campaign account.
