2024年11月19日
Vice President Kamala Harris spent a remarkable $1.5 billion in her hyper-compressed 15-week presidential campaign. But in the days since losing to President-elect Donald J. Trump, her operation has faced questions internally and externally over where exactly all that cash went.
副总统贺锦丽在她高度压缩的15周总统竞选活动中花掉了惊人的15亿美元。但在她输给了当选总统特朗普后的几天里,她的竞选团队已面临着内部和外部的质疑,人们想知道这些资金究竟是怎么花掉的。
Despite her significant financial advantage, Ms. Harris became the first Democratic presidential candidate to lose the national popular vote in two decades, ceding every battleground state to Mr. Trump.
尽管贺锦丽有相当大的资金优势,但她还是成了首名20年来未赢得半数以上全国普选票的民主党总统候选人,而且把战场州全部输给了特朗普。
Her cash-rich campaign spared no expense as it hunted for voters — paying for an avalanche of advertising, social-media influencers, a for-hire door-knocking operation, thousands of staff, pricey rallies, a splashy Oprah town hall, celebrity concerts and even drone shows.
她的竞选团队资金充裕,在争取选民上不惜一切代价,为铺天盖地的广告、社交媒体影响者、受雇敲门拉票者、数千名工作人员、高价集会、一个大张声势的由奥普拉主持的民众集会、名人音乐会,甚至无人机表演上花了大量费用。
It was a spree that averaged roughly $100 million per week.
这是一次平均每周花掉约1亿美元的疯狂花钱。
The frenzied spending has led to second-guessing among some Democrats, including whether investing in celebrity-fueled events with stars such as Lady Gaga and Beyoncé was more ostentatious than effective.
这种疯狂花钱已在一些民主党人中引发了事后批评,包括把钱花在Lady Gaga和碧昂丝等明星参加的助选活动上,这种做法是否更多是为了炫耀,而不是为了成效。
Since her loss, the Harris operation has pressed supporters for more cash with desperate-sounding solicitations, stirring fears about post-election debts. “Is there anything we can say?” came one email asking for cash last Monday.
自从贺锦丽败选以来,她的竞选团队已用听起来绝望的言辞向支持者们发出了提供更多资金的要求,激起了他们对大选后债务的担忧。上周一,一封要求捐钱的电子邮件写道:“我们还有什么能说的话吗?”
The biggest expense during the race was advertising. Between July 21 and Oct. 16, financial records show that the Harris campaign spent $494 million on producing and buying media, a category that includes both television and digital ads. The total sum through the election is said to be closer to $600 million.
大选期间最大的支出是广告费。财务记录显示,在7月21日至10月16日这段时间里,贺锦丽竞选团队在制作和媒体购买(包括电视广告和数字广告)上花了4.94亿美元。整个大选期间花在这方面的总支出据说接近6亿美元。
Yet starting in October, her campaign was actually narrowly outspent on broadcast television by Mr. Trump, according to data from the ad-tracking service AdImpact.
然而,根据广告追踪服务AdImpact的数据,自10月起,她的竞选团队在广播电视上的支出实际上略微低于特朗普团队的花销。
The ads were just one piece of a campaign that had enough cash to spend on seemingly everything. There was $2.5 million directed toward three digital agencies that work with online influencers, records show. The campaign spent around $900,000 to book advertising on the exterior of the Sphere venue in Las Vegas in the last week of the race, two officials said. There were drone shows in the sky before the debate in Philadelphia in September and at a Pittsburgh Steelers game in October.
这些广告只是竞选活动的一部分,贺锦丽的团队在似乎所有活动上都有充裕的资金。记录显示,团队为与网红合作的三家数字代理机构提供了250万美元。两名官员说,竞选团队在大选的最后一周花了约90万美元在拉斯维加斯的“全面屏”球形建筑上打广告。团队还在今年9月的费城大选辩论前、以及在今年10月的匹兹堡钢人队球赛中,做了无人机空中表演。
In a note on Friday to Ms. Harris’s top fund-raisers, Chris Korge, the Democratic National Committee’s finance chair, said that losing all seven battleground states had “shocked us all.”
民主党全国委员会财务主席克里斯·科尔格在上周五发给贺锦丽的主要筹款人的一封信中写道,输掉所有七个战场州“令我们所有人感到震惊”。
“I will absolutely push for an introspective study and analysis of the campaign, its structure, its messaging, all communication platforms and budgeting,” Mr. Korge wrote.
“我绝对会推动对竞选活动、竞选结构、竞选信息、所有的通信平台,以及竞选预算进行反省研究和分析,”科尔格写道。
Given the magnitude of Ms. Harris’s loss, more of the focus so far has been on the Democratic brand and message rather than the mechanics of her operation. Ms. Harris inherited a campaign based in inconvenient Wilmington, Del., that was built for President Biden, and she had limited time to refashion it to better suit her strengths.
考虑到贺锦丽大选失败的惨重,到目前为止,更多的关注点放在了民主党的品牌及其传递的信息上,而不是她竞选活动的运作方式。贺锦丽接手的竞选团队是为拜登总统竞选连任组建的,总部设在特拉华州的威尔明顿,地理位置不方便,她没有太多的时间进行调整,让其更好地与自己的优势相匹配。
Ms. Harris added some senior advisers but mostly kept the Biden team in place, including Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, the powerful campaign chair who oversaw the finances and virtually every major move.
除了增加一些高级顾问外,贺锦丽基本上保持了拜登团队的人员,包括詹妮弗·奥马利·狄龙,她是大权在握的竞选活动主席,负责监督财务和几乎所有的主要活动。
詹妮弗·奥马利·狄龙曾是拜登竞选团队的一员,贺锦丽成为民主党总统候选人后,她获得留任。作为竞选活动的主席,她负责监督财务和几乎所有重大活动。
The campaign’s spending decisions were documented in Federal Election Commission records and interviews with 15 Harris campaign officials and close allies, most of whom insisted on anonymity to discuss internal finances and dynamics candidly. Many of the financial figures in this article are from the latest campaign reports; some are from Harris officials with knowledge of the spending. All told, the Biden and Harris campaigns collectively raised about $2.15 billion, two people said.
竞选活动的支出决定在联邦选举委员会的记录中能找到,时报也对15名贺锦丽竞选团队官员和亲密盟友进行了采访,其中大多数人坚持不具名,以便坦率地讨论内部的财务问题和运作方式。本文中的许多财务数据来自竞选团队最近提交的报告;有些来自了解支出情况的贺锦丽竞选活动官员。两名知情人士说,拜登和贺锦丽的竞选团队总共筹集了约21.5亿美元。
It is not clear exactly how much Mr. Trump spent though it was far less. Mr. Trump and the Republican Party together raised $1.2 billion, one person with knowledge of the figure said.
目前尚不清楚特朗普究竟花了多少钱,但比贺锦丽花的要少得多。一名知情人士称,特朗普和共和党总共筹集了12亿美元。
Even in defeat, there were some signs of the effectiveness of Ms. Harris’s spending: She performed stronger in the battleground states than nationally. Some Harris aides and allies have taken a strange sort of solace in the scope of her defeat as Mr. Trump captured 312 electoral votes — far more than the 270 needed to win.
尽管在大选中失败了,但也有一些迹象表明贺锦丽的钱取得了效果:她在战场州的表现比在全国的表现要好。在特朗普获得了312张——远多于获胜所需的270张——选举人票的同时,贺锦丽的一些助手和盟友们从她的败选中得到了一种奇怪的慰藉。
“There is not a single expenditure in a different spot that would have changed the outcome of the race,” said Bakari Sellers, a close ally of Ms. Harris and a former lawmaker in South Carolina. In fact, Mr. Sellers said, the campaign faced an unusual problem: “We had so much money it was hard to get it out the door.”
“没有任何一笔花在其他地方的支出能改变大选的结果,”贺锦丽的亲密盟友、曾任南卡罗来纳州议会议员的巴卡里·塞勒斯说。塞勒斯表示,实际上,贺锦丽的竞选活动面临着一个不同寻常的问题:“我们有这么多钱,以至于很难把钱花出去。”
Patrick Stauffer, the campaign’s chief financial officer, said in a statement that there had been no outstanding debts or overdue bills as of Election Day. He said that “there will be no debt” on the next Democratic National Committee and Harris for President campaign filings in December.
贺锦丽竞选活动的首席财务官帕特里克·斯托弗在一份声明中说,截至大选日,没有未偿债务或逾期未付账单。他说,在下一届民主党全国委员会和贺锦丽竞选总统活动今年12月提交的文件中“不会有债务”。
Donations made after the election to the “Harris Fight Fund” are being funneled to the Democratic National Committee, officials said.
官员们说,大选后捐给“贺锦丽战斗基金”的钱将转到民主党全国委员会手中。
One particular Harris payment has drawn attention in the aftermath of the election: the $1 million paid to Oprah Winfrey’s production firm, Harpo Productions. In an Instagram post, Ms. Winfrey said the company was paid to stage a live-streamed town hall in Detroit, providing the set, lights, cameras, microphones, crew, producers and even the chairs.
贺锦丽竞选活动的一笔具体支出已在大选结束后引起了人们的关注:即支付给奥普拉·温弗瑞的制作公司Harpo Productions的100万美元。温弗瑞在Instagram上发的一个帖子中表示,公司受雇在底特律举办了一场网上直播的民众集会,钱花在了布景、灯光、摄像机、麦克风、工作人员、制片人,甚至观众就坐的椅子上。
“I did not take any personal fee,” Ms. Winfrey wrote. “However the people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story.”
“我没有收取任何个人费用,”温弗瑞写道。“但参与制作的人需要得到报酬。而且他们得到了报酬。仅此而已。”
The $1 million actually undercounts the full cost of the event, which ran closer to $2.5 million, according to two people briefed on the matter.
据两名知情人士透露,那100万美元的支出实际上低于活动的全部花销,那场活动的总花销接近250万美元。
Another pricey choice was holding swing-state rallies featuring star performers on the eve of the election, including Lady Gaga in Philadelphia, Jon Bon Jovi in Detroit, Christina Aguilera in Nevada, James Taylor in North Carolina and Katy Perry in Pittsburgh.
另一个高价的选择是大选前夜在摆州举行的集会上邀请明星表演,包括Lady Gaga在费城、乔恩·邦·乔维在底特律、克里斯蒂娜·阿奎莱拉在内华达州、詹姆斯·泰勒在北卡罗来纳州,以及凯蒂·佩里在匹兹堡。
The singers themselves were not compensated, officials said, but the support staff was. The overall bill for the election-eve rallies exceeded the planned budget and is said to have topped $10 million.
官员们说,这些歌手本人没有拿报酬,但支持工作人员拿了报酬。大选前夜的集会总花销据说超过了1000万美元,超出了计划的预算。
The cost overruns were partly because the Harris team built an entire rally venue at a park in Pittsburgh only to be told by the Secret Service that the site could not be properly secured. They had to rush to take it down and rebuild at a second venue.
超出预算的部分原因是贺锦丽团队在匹兹堡的一座公园里建了完整的集会场地,但特勤局告诉他们无法为该场地提供适当的安全保护。他们不得不将场地匆匆拆掉,改在第二个地方重建。
“Because of Vice President Harris’s unparalleled fund-raising prowess,” Mr. Stauffer said, “we were able to run an aggressive all-of-the-above strategy to reach voters, keeping the seven battleground states incredibly close.”
斯托弗说,“由于贺锦丽副总统无与伦比的筹款能力,我们得以在争取选民上采取一种积极的全方位策略,使七个战场州的得票率非常接近。”
Even as Ms. Harris ran notably stronger in battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina than in surrounding areas, those results were double-edged, politically. They suggested that the ticket she led was so unpopular that it took an enormous campaign just to limit her losses.
尽管贺锦丽在宾夕法尼亚州、佐治亚州、北卡罗来纳州等战场州的得票率明显好于周边地区,但从政治角度来看,这些结果是一把双刃剑。这些结果暗示,以她为主的民主党候选人在战场州非常不受欢迎,以至于需要大规模的竞选活动才能降低她输的票数。
Though Ms. Harris had been on the ticket from the start, her advisers discovered that the Biden operation had done virtually no research on her strengths and weaknesses. Her operation spent more than $12 million on polling from July 21 to mid-October, records show.
尽管贺锦丽从一开始就是民主党候选人,但她的顾问们发现,拜登的竞选团队几乎没有对她的优势和劣势进行过研究。记录显示,从今年7月21日到10月中旬,她的竞选团队在民意调查上花了1200多万美元。
Other major costs, according to records and campaign officials, included $111 million in online ads seeking donations, at least $100 million transferred to battleground-state parties, $70 million on mail and nearly $28 million to produce the merchandise that people were ordering. And for all the focus on her volunteer program, the campaign spent a significant sum — about $50 million — for paid door-to-door canvassers.
根据竞选记录和竞选官员的说法,其他主要的花销包括在网上的寻求捐款广告上花了1.11亿美元,至少有1亿美元转给了战场州的党组织,7000万美元的邮寄费,以及花了近2800万美元生产人们订购的商品。虽然人们都知道她竞选活动的志愿者项目,但她的竞选团队仍在付费的挨家挨户拉票者身上花了一大笔钱,约5000万美元。
11月2日,乔恩·邦·乔维在北卡罗来纳州夏洛特的贺锦丽竞选活动上表演。他和其他明星在大选前一天出现在摇摆州的一系列集会上,但这些活动的费用超出了计划预算。
In an Oct. 16 memo, the leading super PAC supporting Ms. Harris raised alarms about being outspent on television. The group, Future Forward, said in the memo, which was first reported by The Washington Post, that it would be “difficult for anyone” but the Harris team to close the gap because of the higher ad rates that super PACs pay.
在10月16日的一份备忘录中,支持贺锦丽的主要超级政治行动委员会对她的团队花在电视广告上钱不够多发出了警告。该备忘录是《华盛顿邮报》最早报道的,这个名叫Future Forward的组织在备忘录中写到,除了贺锦丽的团队,其他任何团体都很难弥补电视广告上的花费缺口,因为超级政治行动委员会需要支付更高的广告费。
It was hardly Future Forward’s only frustration. Another memo, issued days later, pointed out “very high-performing ads that have yet to get a big spend.” One ad, Future Forward said, had ranked in the “100th percentile” — meaning it was the most effective — yet it had virtually never been aired.
这不只是Future Forward唯一感到沮丧的事情。该组织在几天后发出的另一份备忘录中指出,“尚未把大量资金花在效果非常好的广告上”。Future Forward称,一则排在“第100个百分位”的广告——意味是它是最有效的——几乎从未播出过。
Campaign officials, meanwhile, were frustrated that Future Forward sat on so much of its money until the final weeks, forcing the campaign to spend more on the airwaves earlier.
与此同时,竞选官员对Future Forward直到最后几周才把大量资金花出去感到不满,这迫使竞选团队在电视广播上投入更多广告费用。
Another Harris challenge: After raising $1 billion in less than three months, a bevy of consultants, allies and others were often angling for a cut, including the chairman of the Democratic Party in Philadelphia. In September, the Harris operation contributed almost $25 million to other party committees, in part to quiet those demands.
贺锦丽面临的另一个挑战是:在不到三个月的时间里筹集到了10亿美元后,一大群顾问、盟友和其他人常常要求分得一杯羹,包括费城的民主党主席。今年9月,贺锦丽的竞选团队向民主党的其他委员会捐赠了近2500万美元,部分原因是为了满足这些要求。