Jeb Bush has suspended his campaign to become President of the United States. When he entered the race one of the biggest things he had going for him was his ability to amass funds – burning over $130 million in his bid for the Presidency. Nicholas Confessore and Sarah Cohen took a look at where all of the funding went:

• By far the biggest line item was advertising, which ate up $84 million of the budget.
• The campaign also paid $10 million to consultants who did opposition research and helped get people to the voting booths in battleground states.
• A campaign has to spend some money to raise more money. Jeb Bush and team spent $16,000 on valets to park the cars of donors who came to Bush’s events.
• The campaign also spent $90,000 on a branding campaign for Jeb! – though as the writers point out, in the end the only brand that really seemed to stick to him was “low energy”.
• A campaign lives and dies on the efforts of late night volunteers. Jeb spent almost $5,000 feeding them pizza. Domino’s seemed to be a favoured choice.

Read the entire breakdown here.

See a similar breakdown for Obama’s more successful run in 2012 here. And read Centives’ coverage of the 2016 election here.

Source: The New York Times

All eyes are on the Iowa caucuses today. Businesses have found ways to take advantage writes Jeremy Quittner:

• Some places such as Pizza Ranch have become election year institutions with candidates always planning events.
• They are usually divided between the Democrats and the Republicans. Pizza Ranch, for example, usually only hosts Republican candidates.
• One diner launched a coffee bean caucus. Patrons were invited to drop a coffee bean into a jar to indicate which candidate they supported.
• The jars have been a surprisingly good predictor of caucus results leading to a lot of media attention that boosts business.
• Another business sells caucus theme merchandise known for being edgy – think of all the plays on the word ‘caucus’.
• According to one company, the Iowa caucus leads to an additional $100,000 in revenue.

Read more over here.

Source: Slate

Paul Krishnamurty wrote about the foreigners making money betting on the American 2016 Presidential election:

• It’s illegal to bet on politics in the United States, but countries around the world have a more liberal approach to gambling.
• In 2012 the UK based Betfair saw $200 million traded in the market for betting on the next President.
• In America the focus is usually on the predictions on pundits who have a lot of name recognition, and often some sort of partisan bent.
• Betters, on the other hand, have to rely on extensive research and analysis, and must be aggressively neutral.
• As a result betting markets are usually more accurate than media personalities. In 2004 pollsters said that the race would be close, but betting markets showed a clear advantage for Bush.
• In many ways betting on political markets is easier than betting on sporting matches. Luck is much less of a factor. Krishnamurty is able to turn a profit of 90% on political markets.
• The Republican nomination – with all its twists and turns – has been a windfall for betters as they buy and short candidates with each swing of the poll.
• According to Krishnamurty the key to the 2016 election isn’t just to look at American trends but broader global ones. There is an anti-established, pro-populist wave across elections in the west, and American elections will likely be no different.

Read more about who Krishnamurty is betting on, his reasoning, the amount of money he expects to make from this election, and more over here.

Source: Politico

Christine Mai-Duc looked into the workers that make Donald Trump’s campaign Make America Great Again hats:

• The hats are made in America and provide employment to those most vulnerable to overseas low cost producers.
• The company that makes them earned $270,000 from the campaign in the last quarter alone.
• However, the Latinos employed to make the hats are the very people that Trump sometimes speaks out against.
• At $25 a pop the now iconic hats have been a boost to Trump’s campaign financing.

Read more about the role that Trump’s golfing business played and other details here.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Via: MSN