How political candidates spend their money can say rather a lot about them: their instincts, their consideration to element, their care with cash or lack thereof.
So final week’s year-end stories with the Federal Election Commission served as a kind of M.R.I. They confirmed how some campaigns had thrived, whereas others had suffered slowing flows of donor oxygen, uncontrolled spending hemorrhages, and good old style bloat. In some instances, the filings had been extra like an post-mortem. (Tim Scott for President spent $16.8 million on media and promoting, and he was a goner earlier than a single vote was solid.)
Then there have been the weirder objects.
For instance, the $655,000 spent on “gift card redemption services” by Mayor Francis X. Suarez of Miami, a reminder of an ill-fated effort to entice donors to his dubiously viable presidential marketing campaign. Or the $218,500 paid by considered one of former President Donald J. Trump’s political committees to Hervé Pierre Braillard — a stylist who has labored with Melania Trump — for “strategy consulting.”
Here are extra examples of peculiar or unusual marketing campaign spending.
Trucker hats and ‘collateral’ objects
You may very well be forgiven for lacking him, however Ryan Binkley, a Texas pastor and businessman, continues to run for the Republican presidential nomination.
And he has by some means spent $772,000 on hats.
His submitting lamentably gives few particulars, however based on this {photograph} from The New Hampshire Union Leader, no less than one of many hats is a trucker design emblazoned with the letters “W.T.F.” — “Way to Freedom.” The total hat expense was a part of a $5 million outlay to Victory Enterprises, a political consulting group in Iowa.
“To date, the Binkley campaign has produced more than 50,000 hats,” stated Heath Flock, the director of Mr. Binkley’s marketing campaign. “Yes, this is a lot of hats.”
Mr. Flock added: “We used Binkley-branded hats as giveaways at all of our campaign events, and as a contribution incentive. While other presidential campaigns solicited donations by offering free gas cards or college tuition incentives, we simply offered our hats as a thank-you to people who donated to our campaign.”
Mr. Binkley wasn’t the one candidate whose operation spent massive on merch. The tremendous PAC backing Ron DeSantis, Never Back Down, paid a vendor $43,000 for “canvassing field operations uniforms” because it deployed door-knockers throughout early nominating states.
Representatives for Never Back Down didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The tremendous PAC additionally paid $13,858 for “collateral materials” — jackets, pins, flags — from ACE Specialties, a Louisiana firm.
Curiously, the corporate additionally payments itself because the “Official Merchandiser” for Mr. Trump’s marketing campaign. The former president’s joint fund-raising committee paid ACE practically $79,000 for line objects akin to “collateral: flags and hats” and “collateral: apparel, hats, stickers and freight.”
Hair and sweetness
If you’re operating for president and aren’t carrying a signature hat, you have to have good hair.
It is evident that politicians ought to take note of their presentation and polish — however voters have a tendency to boost their eyebrows at large private grooming and clothes bills. Remember John Edwards’s $400 haircuts? Or Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe, offered by the Republican National Committee?
Never Back Down, the DeSantis tremendous PAC, made two funds final 12 months totaling $6,675.93 to Haus of Beauty, a Tallahassee magnificence salon, for “Personnel Service/Equipment.”
A consultant for Never Back Down declined to remark. The magnificence salon didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Ice cream
Ice cream stops are such a political cliché, “Veep” constructed a complete episode round a go to to a frozen yogurt store. So far this cycle, candidates and political committees have spent upward of $10,000 on ice cream occasions, based on a New York Times evaluation.
A number of favourite spots stand out, together with Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, a sequence that began in Ohio, and Ice Cream Jubilee in Washington, D.C.
Most of the bills are for a number of hundred {dollars}. One exception is Representative Chip Roy of Texas, whose marketing campaign reported a $17.52 expense at a Jeni’s location in Virginia in November.
Curiously, the Ice Cream Eater in Chief — President Biden — has listed no apparent expenditures for ice cream up to now this 12 months. On Monday, he ordered a pink boba tea at a marketing campaign cease in Nevada.
Michael C. Bender and Nicholas Nehamas contributed reporting.
