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With Bernie Sanders lopping hundreds of staffers from his campaign this week, it's easy to forget he has outraised and outspent Hillary Clinton every month this year. And not by just a little.

 early on, but it certainly hasn't been the case the past three months. Federal Election Commission reports for January, February and March of 2016 show Sanders outspending Clinton by more than 50 percent, $121.6 million to $80.2 million.
We know where those additional Bernie dollars came from: legions of small donors. The Campaign Finance Institute 

, the Sanders campaign raised 56 percent of his money from donors contributing $200 or less and 12 percent from donors giving 1,000 or more. Corresponding numbers for Clinton are 21 and 64 percent.
So how did Sanders spend all those Bernie dollars? NPR decided to focus on the month of March, which had the 

 and was the most intense month of the primary season, with balloting in 28 states. Here's what we found:



The massive spending advantage wasn't enough for Sanders. In March he won 912 delegates to Clinton's 1,141. Now, just two big primaries remain – California and New Jersey – along with nine smaller ones and Sanders' path to Democratic nomination is 

Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs, announcing the layoffs, issued a statement that the campaign "will continue to have a strong and dedicated staff of more than 300 workers who are going to help us win in California and other contests still to come." He said the campaign "believes that we have a path toward victory."


Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said, in an email to NPR, that they've always tried to "make smart, targeted investments and be efficient with our spending." He said, "The most important factor in this race isn't money," it's how voters respond to Clinton's policies and plans.  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Politics and Government News

Peter Overby

Author

After starting as an "underdog" Sanders has outspent the Clinton campaign in almost every major category.

Sanders campaign has spent 50 percent more than Clinton in 2016

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