MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Joe Biden swatted away concerns his campaign was cash-strapped just before the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.
“I have enough money. I’ve been raising about half a million dollars a day. We’re doing fine,” Biden told CBS Monday morning.
With financial disclosure documents now due monthly, as opposed to quarterly like they were in 2019, Biden, a faltering 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has yet to reveal his fundraising haul from January.
Some campaigns have leaked their fundraising results since last week’s Iowa kickoff caucuses for the nomination and the New Hampshire debate ahead of Tuesday’s second contest. Rival Bernie Sanders, 78, however, has been happy to boast about how he raised $25 million last month, $3 million more than what the former vice president brought in during the last three months of last year. Andrew Yang, 45, also received $6.7 million in donations between Jan. 1 through Jan 31.
Meanwhile, the 2020 White House hopefuls’ camps have been less reticent to brag about how much cash they still have on hand. Biden had $9 million in his coffers as of Dec. 31, which led many political strategists and commentators to question whether that was enough to sustain his third bid for the presidency to his must-win states of Nevada on Feb. 22 and South Carolina on Feb. 29.
During his CBS interview, Biden continued to retreat from the fiery political attacks he had lobbed at Sanders, the Vermont senator, and Pete Buttigieg, 38, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Sanders and Buttigieg finished in the top two in Iowa and are tracking to perform as well in New Hampshire, while the 36-year Delaware senator is cratering in most polls.
Yet on Monday, Biden didn’t shy away from taking a swing at another opponent, Michael Bloomberg, 77.
The former mayor of New York City entered the race late last November, citing concerns over Biden’s ability to beat President Trump in the general election, but hasn’t been competing in the four early-voting states. Instead, he’s focusing on the 14 Super Tuesday states that will vote on March 3.
“I’m not concerned. By the way, the only baggage he has is all that money, man. He’s already spent $300 million on advertising,” Biden said.
