When will the Obama campaign stop doubling down on failure? I’m not referring to his economic record or his bad impression of Fauxcahontas Warren, I’m referring to how they’re raising money for the presidential campaign. Today, Michelle Obama landed a missive in my inbox:

Friend –

Barack turns 51 next month, and there will be a little celebration at our house in Chicago.

We’d like to give grassroots supporters an opportunity to join in the fun. You guys deserve it, and I know Barack would personally love to see you there.

Donate $3 or whatever you can today, and you’ll be automatically entered to get your name added to the guest list.

Barack’s birthday is one of the last opportunities he’ll get for a little downtime before the final weeks of the election.

That won’t stop me from teasing him about all those new gray hairs he has — though I think it’s fair to say he’s earned every one.

So if you’re standing with Barack for the final months of his final campaign, there’s no better way to show it than by making a donation to build this grassroots organization today.

If you do, you’ll be automatically entered for the chance to join him for his birthday celebration in Chicago. We’ll also fly you out and take care of all the travel arrangements.

Enter today:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Birthday

Thank you,

Michelle

Raffling the sitting President of the United States is undignified, but the campaign has been doing it for months now.  At the outset, the Obama campaign believed that the raffles would attract small dollar donors who have not yet given the maximum to the Obama campaign, while also expanding its total donor list. The latter has probably happened to some extent, but it should be clear by now that the raffles are not succeeding in keeping the campaign funded. Romney outraised Obama by $18 million in May and $35 million in June, while the Obama campaign has been spending more than it is taking in. If that trend continues, Romney will achieve parity around convention time and could go into the fall in cash command. In fact, given the Obama campaign’s high burn rate, Romney may already have a cash on hand advantage.
Take into consideration the fact that Obama has already aggressively fund-raised for himself in addition to the online raffle effort. He has made more campaign fundraising appearences at this point than any of his previous presidents had, by a very wide margin. Yet he is trailing in the money race.

The Obama campaign’s negative ad barrage may have moved the needle a little bit in some swing states over the past week or two, but nationally it hasn’t moved the needle at all. If the campaign continues on its current trajectory, the polls will be close up to the last weeks, at which point Romney can use his cash advantage to launch attacks that Obama will not have the finances to counter. The barrage that destroyed Newt Gingrich in Iowa will seem like a spring shower in comparison to the storm that Romney may be preparing to unleash on Obama.

Yet the Obama campaign just keeps trying new ways to package up its old raffle idea.