The Battleground Project Clinton preps final-stage blitz against Trump The Democrat has as much cash ready for the final stretch as any candidate ever. And she’s sending it to Battleground America.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Hillary Clinton is walking into the final stretch of this 2016 presidential contest with as much cash at her direct disposal as any White House contender in history. And her operatives expect her to use it to blanket the battleground states with both organizers and a heavy dose of anti-Donald Trump ads.

In-state Democratic operatives are planning for a significant tranche of the money — coming from the $150 million Clinton’s campaign and associated accounts had in the bank to start October — to be added to the previously announced $80 million television investment her team previewed at the start of this final phase, on top of other paid media and a heavily-funded get-out-the-vote push.


And while Brooklyn hasn’t made any official announcement or alerted her swing state operatives about final spending plans, Clinton’s finance team led by Dennis Cheng told donors the resources will go to paid media, organizers and voter registration.

Now, in the states where the election will be decided — Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in particular — Democrats' active preparations for that influx have already started.

“We’ve kind of turned a corner. Everything is fever pitch, because now vote-by-mail ballots, I think over two million, land in mailboxes, so every day is Election Day,” explained Florida Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa, outlining a charged landscape that’s reflected in the other top-tier battlegrounds. “And that will ratchet up [further] when early voting starts."

A last-second ad and organizing blitz is hardly unusual in campaigns, but the size and intensity of Clinton’s could feel like none before due both to the resource imbalance between her campaign and Trump's, and her team's insistence on stockpiling highly coveted political funds until now, even as it’s raised less than Barack Obama’s 2012 operation.

The enormous cash position gives Clinton nearly $5 million to spend per day— even before money from the Democratic National Committee, which entered September with roughly $11.5 million, and the main super PAC Priorities USA Action, which started last month with $40 million, is taken into account. New laws that came into effect since the last presidential election allow Clinton to directly use fundraising committees with higher contribution limits than ever before, even if there are some restrictions on how the money can be spent — four years ago, Obama’s campaign, the DNC, and Priorities, were all sitting on far less at the start of October. (Clinton's 2016 numbers are similar to Obama's in 2008, though he didn't have a super PAC then.)

And Trump's totals appear to be dwarfed by Clinton's: his campaign entered September with $38 million while the Republican National Committee had $40.5 million. Two committees associated with the Trump campaign haven't reported their finances since July.

The effects of that resource disparity have been felt on the ground for months, and they only stand to become more pronounced

"You cannot turn on your TV without seeing a Clinton ad," said Castor, adding that in her district it feels like "it's about 10 Clinton ads to every one Trump ad."

Clinton strategists in target states report being told that the cash hoard is intended to largely service the final three weeks – that means a blitz opening in mid-October, around the time of the final debate. Certainly, a huge large chunk will be spent on operations sooner than that, with senior officials from her national headquarters boarding flights to live out the election in the battlegrounds and targeted get-out-the-vote efforts beginning on a rolling basis, as early-voting opens state by state. (Clinton’s camp is operating with the expectation that over 40 percent of this year’s votes will be cast before November 8.)

Between the campaign and Priorities, Clinton’s political operation already has roughly $76 million worth of television advertising in the battleground states booked for the final five weeks, according to media buyers, compared to Trump's $34 million. (Trump associates say he will spend $140 million in TV and digital ads over the final stretch, but even fellow Republicans have questioned that figure since it's so much higher than his cash on hand.)

Democrats' numbers stands to increase as the campaign shuffles its focus on specific markets and ratchets up its investments in secondary-priority regions of the swing states. Party strategists also expect to see a renewed investment in radio and mail pieces, which are far cheaper to draw up and distribute.

“One way or another, we’re going to get money, and these states at the tipping point are going to get that money. What we’re going to do with that money is stuff you can move on quickly: paid media. You can add markets, double down in some, and even add mail,” said one swing-state operative. “If you drop $5 million into a state, you can use about 20 percent in field, and the rest goes straight into paid media."

“In Obama 2012, on the advertising team, we had base buys. We knew we wanted to keep them pinned down in as many states as possible, but after that you’re allocating resources on a week-by-week basis, based on tracking polls, based on voting metrics, field metrics that you’re getting,” added Democratic strategist Isaac Baker, who helped manage the president's paid media operation that year. "They will be able to calibrate spending and time in 48-hour increments based on the metrics they’re getting back from the early voting data and their rolling poll tracks. Those combined will determine that."

Clinton's closing blitz is highly unlikely to cut out any of the states where she currently has ad time booked — even Iowa, where she’s trailed in most recent polls — since her strategists figure that Trump’s path to victory narrows as Clinton’s map grows. But Clinton operatives still expect to see a focus on the four big states where Clinton and Trump have both spent most of their time, including the traditional Big Two of Florida and Ohio. (“The bar is really high for Donald Trump,” said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook this week, surveying the map. “I would argue he has to win North Carolina, he probably has to win Pennsylvania.”)

The campaign and Priorities have roughly $18.5 million worth of home-stretch television booked in Florida and $14 million in Ohio.

The number is $12 million in Pennsylvania, where Clinton has kept a consistent lead but where Trump has long threatened, and local Democrats are still expecting a final push.

“There’s a reason there will be a great deal of resources spent in Pennsylvania in the final weeks: because we’re one of the few battleground states without early voting, so every vote will be cast on Election Day,” explained Rep. Brendan Boyle, whose Philadelphia-era district is one where Clinton must do well. “Let’s say you’re within a couple points [in Pennsylvania], leaning blue, and Ohio’s within a couple points, leaning red. When you’re getting down to the final couple states and you’re looking to allocate resources, do you do it in a place where 50-60 percent of votes have already been cast?"

And in North Carolina — yet another Trump must-win — it’s $9.5 million.

“The Clinton campaign made an early decision that they were going to invest heavily in North Carolina,” explained Rep. G.K. Butterfield, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, adding that he has urged Clinton to campaign in the eastern part of the state to replicate Obama’s success there when he won it in 2008. “They told me that several months ago, and they’ve followed through."

The slate of ads in those states is still wide-ranging, as the campaign has yet to unveil its closing-argument television spots: A mix of Spanish-language ads hitting Trump’s immigration policies and hard negative clips highlighting Trump’s other controversial statements currently blanket the swing state airwaves, for example, joined on the radio by some spots touting GOP support and African American-focused ones like the DNC’s featuring First Lady Michelle Obama. (The committee is also expected to roll out a Latino-focused clip soon.)

Now, a new 60-second positive ad unveiled on Thursday is intended to project the message that Clinton is going on the offensive, even in states like Ohio where political pros had counted her out as recently as this week, but where her poll numbers appear to be rebounding.

“They’re going full bore, hitting Latinos with the Spanish ads. And obviously they’re worried that even though she has a huge lead with African Americans over Trump, they’re not going to be as motivated to go to the polls, hence the Michelle Obama ads,” said Jimmy Siegel, a New York ad maker who worked on Clinton’s 2008 campaign.

"And then, the typical ‘whatever Trump says last.’ Taxes now, and I’m sure the veterans next. It’s a little like shooting fish in a barrel. But hey, they’ve got the barrel."