The Billion Dollar Candidate Doesn't Have a Dime to Spare

Apparently fundraising for The One has not gone as smoothly as predicted (h/t Morning Jolt):

President Barack Obama has a bleak message for House and Senate Democrats this year when it comes to campaign cash: You're on your own.

Democratic congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have privately sought as much as $30 million combined from Obama for America and the Democratic National Committee -- a replay of the financial help they received from Obama in 2008 and 2010.

But that's not going to happen, top Obama aides Jim Messina and David Plouffe told Reid and Pelosi in back-to-back meetings on Capitol Hill on Thursday, according to sources familiar with the high-level talks. It was a stark admission from a presidential campaign once expected to rake in as much as $1 billion of just how closely it is watching its own bottom line.

Messina and Plouffe told the two Hill leaders that there would be no cash transfers to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from OFA or the DNC, at least not before Election Day, the sources said.

Ed Morrissey says there are two possible reasons for this White House Scrooge act:

There are only two conclusions to reach if this report is true. Either Barack Obama is so self-absorbed that he can't share the wealth himself, or his fundraising is going so poorly that his campaign has little wealth to share. Neither looks particularly impressive, but either way, this undermines the notion that Obama is a fundraising juggernaut that will overwhelm the eventual Republican nominee.

Obama has been selling what are basically raffle tickets for a dinner with him for $3 a piece, pretty cheap. It makes me think the small donor fundraising, which was such a big thing in 2008, has not gone well at all. The rainbows and unicorns thing isn't working with the little people anymore.