President Barack Obama raised more money in the 3Q than any of his Republican challengers. The president raised more than $42 million for his re-election campaign during the three months that ended September 30, despite the country’s economic woes and his own low standing in public opinion polls. During the same period, Obama also helped the Democratic National Committee raise $27.3 million, pushing his total fundraising for the 3Q of the year to nearly $70 million.
If President Obama can continue to raise this kind of money, with much of it coming from new people, he will definitely be hard to beat next year! Obama’s campaign manager, Jim Messina, announced that 606,207 people donated to BarackObama.com [in the 3Q], including more than 250,000 who had never contributed to Obama’s presidential campaign before.
The Obama campaign said Thursday that of all the donations the campaign received during the 3Q, about 98% came in increments of $250 or less. However, the campaign did not disclose what proportion of the $70 million joint haul came from such checks. While individuals’ contributions to Obama are limited to $5,000 for the entire election cycle, checks earmarked for the DNC can total $30,800 per donor.
The fundraising numbers represent a slight decline for Obama’s campaign from what he raised in the 2Q and a larger drop for the Democratic National Committee. But as noted above, it is far more than any of the Republican presidential candidates appear to have raised over the same period.
While the Republican candidates remain focused on the early primary and caucus states, the Obama campaign, Messina said, is using its early fundraising to set up campaign offices and build a ground infrastructure for next year’s general election. “In the past three months we’ve grown our organizing staff by 50 percent, and opened up three new field offices every week.”
The Obama campaign is hoping to surpass the million-donor mark in the coming days, and on Thursday pressed for additional contributions. Messina boasted, “Getting to a million grassroots donors isn’t just a huge accomplishment this early in the campaign; it’s our answer to our opponents, the press, and anyone who wants to know whether the president’s supporters have his back.” [Emphasis added, GDH.]
THE PRESS – HIS OPPONENT?? You’ve got to be kidding!
The mainstream media has been in Obama’s hip pocket ever since he won the primary against Hillary Clinton in 2008. To cite the press as an “opponent” is a slap in the face, but one that the press is more than willing to ignore.
The Obama campaign says its goal is to raise a billion dollars this time around, and he may just do it. We can only hope that no amount of money is enough to win if the economy still stinks next November!
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