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* UPDATED x1 * Kennedy needs to dig deeper, but can he?

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*** UPDATE *** As I said would happen earlier today, Kennedy just reported depositing another $250K into his campaign account.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* Politico…

But a source from the Kennedy campaign tells POLITICO that Kennedy later this week is expected to give himself a “significant boost” by once again digging into his own pockets. Kennedy so far has donated $500,000 to his own campaign fund. He’s up against billionaire J.B. Pritzker who has plowed $42 million into his bid. However, lesser known candidate, state Sen. Daniel Biss, waited to start ads until after the new year and has burned through less cash, giving him more money to play with before Election Day.

Kennedy has actually contributed $750,000 to his campaign so far. Those contributions, in $250,000 increments, have mostly been made at the end of the quarters. He can’t wait until the end of this quarter, which would fall after primary day. So, he’s planning to kick in his usual $250K later this week, I’m told.

Obviously, he needs a whole lot more cash than that. And there are those on the campaign pushing him to dig much deeper into his bank account. But Kennedy doesn’t have Pritzker or Rauner money. A longtime friend of his told me not long ago that he believed Kennedy was worth about $10 million. So, by that measure, after this next $250K check, Kennedy will have kicked in ten percent of his net worth. Pritzker would need to spend $340 million before reaching that same point.

* ICPR…

Expenditures

Spending on advertising ramped up significantly this quarter, with candidates reporting a total of $15 million in advertising-related costs. This compares to just $6.2 million spent on ads in the 3rd quarter, and $7.5 million spent in the 2nd quarter. J.B. Pritzker led the pack in ad spending with $8.4 million. Governor Rauner followed close behind with $6.7 million in reported ad spending in the 4th quarter. Senator Biss reporting $85,000 in ad-related costs, while candidates Kennedy and Ives both reported about $11,000 each in ad spending. Kennedy reported an additional $32,000 in printing costs, which could include some print advertising.

Personnel was the next most costly expenditure reported by gubernatorial candidates, with a total of $3.1 million spent on staffing-related items. J.B. Pritzker reported $2 million in personnel costs, while Rauner reported just under $400,000. Chris Kennedy spent an amount close to Rauner, with $381,000, and Senator Biss reported about $300,000 in personnel costs. Total payroll costs slightly exceeded the third quarter, in which candidates reported spending a total of $2.35 million.

Finally, candidates spent heavily on consulting services. Chris Kennedy spent a considerable amount in this category, totaling about $912,000 – just over half of his $1.6 million in spending for the quarter. Over $681,000 of his consultant spending was labeled as “media consulting.” Pritzker spent the most on consulting with $1.6 million, and Rauner and Biss trailed with $376,000 and $112,000 respectively.

Man, that Pritzker and his spending. Whew. $2 million on staff? In three months?

And the way I read Kennedy’s D-2, most of Kennedy’s “media consulting” expenditures were actually for producing and broadcasting his TV ad. So, I don’t think ICPR got that one right.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 10:12 am

Comments

Kennedy finished at 737,000 at the end of the 3rd quarter, so his entire cash on hand comes from the 750,000 he gave himself.

Guess the Bill Daley rolodex ain’t what she used to be.

Comment by Fax Machine Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 10:23 am
I don’t see the point of him kicking in any more of his bankroll at this point. It’s a spit in the ocean against JB.

It seems to me his path is to ratchet-up the anti-establishment rhetoric and keep pounding on Emanuel, Berrios and Madigan to garner earned media and attract the rebel alliance in the Dem Party.

If that’s your strategy, you go long. You can’t dink-and-dunk your way down the field.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 10:28 am
==So, I don’t think ICPR got that one right.==

Yeah, that half a mil to Adelstein, that’s gotta be the commercial, right? They just did all of it themselves so Kennedy writes one check instead of 12.

Comment by Arsenal Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 10:29 am
There’s a downstream problem here, too; even if Kennedy finds the money, how’s he gonna spend it? He can put up more ads, but he has no ground game to speak of, and that’s a hell of a thing to build from scratch in the last two months, especially with so many of the talented folks spoken for.

Comment by Arsenal Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 10:32 am
With the super rich, you can’t think in terms of “man, $2 million on staff’….think percentages vs. numbers. $2 million = .003% of his net wealth (that’s a guess). And he probably thinks spending 1% of his wealth to buy something he really, really wants is worth it.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 10:38 am
Where are the rest of the Kennedys on this? Seems like they’d get behind him financially. He “only” has 10 mm, but the total Kennedy fortune is estimated at about a billion (not including Caroline, who inherited all that Onassis cash as well.)

Comment by Soccermom Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 11:10 am
If I’m Kennedy I hope for a Tribune endorsement along with a handful of others and run some ads on that. But I might focus my money and effort on African-American media and turnout. The first JB ads I heard were on WCPT doing the same, which told me he thought this was a weakness and/or he needed to blunt Kennedy’s edge there. Still a long shot, but if JB’s support is soft he doesn’t need Harold Washington-like turnout to make up ground.

Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 11:34 am
I think ISBE requires that your media buy payments be broken out by station, e.g. $300,000 to WMAQ NBC, etc. Kennedy’s campaign might be getting a letter about that.

Comment by anon Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 11:38 am
–If I’m Kennedy I hope for a Tribune endorsement…–

The guy the tronclodytes on the edit board accused of hallucinating?

Actually, makes sense, in a way. Birds of a feather…

My hunch is the troncs will endorse Biss because of his union record, SB1 and because he doesn’t have JBs money to go after Rauner.

The troncs might make the occasional sad noises about Rauner, but Ferro will tell them what their opinions are in the governor’s race. Owners are like that.

Ferro has spoken. So let it be written. So let it be done.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 11:49 am
=== *** UPDATE *** As I said would happen earlier today, Kennedy just reported depositing another $250K into his campaign account.===

Unless this happens every day for the next 2 weeks and it all goes on TV… what are we really talking about?

I mean, is this really there now to ensure payroll for January?

That’s half-snark

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 2:50 pm
Hi Rich - thanks for posting. To write the expenditure summary, the ICPR staff and I sorted itemized candidate spending by purpose, and totaled the highest spending categories. The Kennedy campaign did report $681k to Adelstein & Associates for what they labeled “media consulting.” Meanwhile, the campaign separated out $8,000 in digital advertising, and $2,600 in general advertising. While the labels we used corresponded directly to what was listed on the quarterlies, in retrospect, I believe we should have mentioned Kennedy’s consulting spending as a note in the advertising spending section. The vendor shows that there was likely an adbuy involved. We apologize for the lack of clarity. We have added this information in an updated report on our website.

Comment by Sarah Brune Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 3:34 pm
OW, what’s that saying about throwing good money after what?

Don’t see how this helps him much at all.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 3:43 pm
The disorganization and all but non-existence of publicity from the Kennedy campaign has destroyed it. I donated early on after meeting and talking with him in person and hearing what he had to say about the state of the state. However, from his announcement until his one and only tv adbuy, the campaign and the candidate have been essentially non-entities outside of social media posts. Combined with JB cornering the market on Illinois democratic operatives (Bill Daley notwithstanding; see JB’s personnel expenses), he basically doomed himself.

I have a hunch I’m not the only one who was holding out donating more until I saw some legitimate commitment to the campaign. It never really came. He’s had a few nice moments (the tv ad was good, the moment from this weekend where he made Ives look like the ignoramus she is was great), and has made some points that needed to be made re: the way the Illinois political machine works, but all in all, it’s hard to view the campaign as anything other than a disaster.

Comment by Anon324 Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 4:13 pm
–The Kennedy campaign did report $681k to Adelstein & Associates for what they labeled “media consulting.” –

Huh. Did I miss some TV spots? Are they talking to themselves, this consulting?

What a score.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jan 17, 18 @ 7:17 pm