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Obama Raises Over $51 Million In July

From the Obama campaign's release:

Senator Barack Obama's campaign announced today that more than 65,000 new donors contributed to the Obama campaign during the month of July, bringing the total raised for the month to over $51 million. More than 2 million people have now contributed to the campaign.

"The 65,000 new donors to the Obama campaign demonstrate just how strongly the American people are looking to fundamentally change business as usual in Washington. We are proud of the millions of volunteers and more than two million donors to the Obama campaign who will provide the backbone of our campaign to put America back on track and reject the old politics and failed Bush policies, which is all John McCain is offering," said David Plouffe, campaign manager of Obama for America.

The Obama campaign also says they now have roughly $65 million on hand.

Obama raised $52 million last month, and with the $51 million this month we can see that Obama has kept the pace of roughly $50 million a month he needs to meet his goal of raising $300 million or more.

Obama's haul is also nearly double the $27 million raised by McCain in July. The McCain campaign and Republican National Committee have roughly $100 million on hand. The DNC's numbers are expected sometime this weekend, so we'll soon be able to see how the two sides stack up against each other.


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Obama outraising him is great news for McGoo!

yep it could encourage more people to start giving money to mccain


McCain lies about his voting record on energy

Oh my God! You're totally right! Everybody stop contributing to Obama right this minute!

I'm anxious to see the DNC's numbers. Surely they are less than the RNC, though probably not by $25 million.
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Here.

As wealthy Obama backers start writing big checks to the DNC, the committee and its joint fundraising committees raised $27.7 last month, and has slightly more than that on hand.

The DNC says it's the first time since October, 2004 it's outraised the RNC.

The committee cash boosts the respective candidates, though it's no equivalent in value to the hard money raised by the candidates, and not all can or will be spent on the general election.

Hm. Outraised the RNC. Good sign.

So is this also "yet another indication that Barack Obama's financial advantage may not prove to be all that formidable?"

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Naturally. If Obama's fundraising was really formidable, he'd be outraising McCain by 3:1 instead of that paltry 2:1.

This Week with George Stephanopoulos:

Does Obama's fundraising bonanza play into the McCain camp's attempts to paint him as an elite celebrity who will raise your taxes?

LOL.

Question, Greg:

How much of that can he legally spend before he accepts the nomination?

He can spend every dime of primary money he has left in the bank.

He's opted out of public financing. The only limits he has to worry about are the ones on individual contributions.

Exactly. I'm worried about what percentage of the money comes from maxed out donors. That will tell us about his fundraising potential in the GE. If that figure is large, Obama's in trouble.

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He got 65,000 new donors during the month; if they fit the profile of his donors to date, most of them gave small amounts and will give again.

Huh? When the general starts, all his doners' contribution totals reboot back to zero. The number who are already maxed out for both races is not a very serious part of his two million strong doner base.

Picture two accounts--the primary fund and the general election fund. Each individual can pay $2300 into each fund, for a total of $4600.

Right now, Obama uses the primary fund money until the convention makes his nomination for th eparty official. When the nomination is official, then Obama stops using the primary fund and starts using the general fund money. (McCain will not have any general fund money since he opted for federal financing.) In addition, Obama can transfer any leftover money in the primary fund into the general fund as long as the individual contribution limits are observed.

There are ZERO worries about Obama having enough money. He has plenty of money and IMHO is spending it wisely on field organization and operations throughout the country. This is an excellent investment in our future--and we damned well will need Democrats in power to reverse the damage that these radicals have done.

Donations made for the primary do not count against the candidate in the GE, so it's unlikely that anybody has maxed out. Also, with 2 million contributors at 2,300 dollars per contributor, that could amount to 4.6 BILLION? I don't think there are any issues with hitting the ceiling.

I think my math is right ... I hope!

Other questions:
How many new donors did McCain get? Is he tapping previous donors and/or getting just those top donors giving the max allowed?

I think the enthusiasm gap along with the ground game is going to be decisive for Obama in the swing states.

That's my point.

The polls isn't the only way to measure this election.

This week, with Obama on vacation and the crisis on Georgia, McCain couldn't overtake him on the daily trackers. The state polls are tightening in, but this is natural on a bipartisan system. Still, the GOP base is coming back, and the effort must be stronger than before.

PD: He really should go to Alaska. Why not during the GOP convention? Just a thought.

I have a good feeling that after his acceptance speech in Denver, the Obama base will get re-fired up. I doubt this to be the case after McCain's with regard to the right-wingers. Especially if he tanks tonight at Saddleback.

Cokie wants to know, are those U.S. dollars or Hawaiian dollars?

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Sand dollars.

Those numbers are actually a little unsettling. He raised $50+ million last month, $50+ million this month, but only has $65 million on hand?

I'm no math whiz, but it looks to me like he is really overspending. But for what? To retain a 4 point lead in the polls? To watch a race tighten up?

He's spending his money on the ground game. He's opening offices. Enrolling voters. Hiring workers. His objective is to build a ton of new voters who they can turn out in November.

Dude. What do you think these guys do with the cash---put it in a savings account? He's opening field offices in key states, aiding downticket Dems & the DNC, bringing aboard volunteers, and launching massive voter registation drives all over the freaking place.

I'll take the most incredible political armada ever witnessed over your misplaced 'concern' anyday, buddy.

Lights out.

The fact that Obama is reporting $65 million cash on hand doesn't mean the rest of it has been spent. Unless I'm mistaken, cash on hand refers to the money that's been collected, not the money that's been donated.

Of course he's spending it. He's has to spend his primary account dry before the convention. If not, he has to give it back.

That's false. Any primary funds not used by the time of his nomination automatically get rolled over to general funds.

Well, yeah, okay. I was oversimplifying (which is what we lawyers say we were instead of "wrong") but if he does, it counts against the primary contributor's contribution limit. And he does have a significant number of contributors who are already maxed out for the general.

Regardless, I'd rather he burn the primary account down to empty and restart everyone except the people who are already maxed out at zero.

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Sweet.

Britt Hume: Is Obama's fundraising hurting the economy?

... ... ...

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... ... -.. -..

Cutting back on the latte sipping is killing Starbucks.

But how much did Paris Hilton raise?

Ahhhhh...was waiting for this. Love his consistent performance. And NOW, we go into August, and w/ being officially nominated, the convention, Veep announcement, I bet fundraising is going to go through the roof. Obamentum!! I'm finally seeing an end coming to these summer doldrums.

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Agreed on the consistency. Obama's campaign doesn't get nearly enough credit for their hard-nosed consistency and discipline: they never panic, never change the message, they just keep grinding and clawing for donations and votes.

Obama's strategy reminds me of Tom Cruise's character in the Firm, when he describes how the FBI can take down the crooked law firm on the rather mundane charge of over-billing hundreds of clients:

"Its not sexy, but its got teeth."

McCain's campaign is all sexy, no teeth. The twittering media class love his "celebrity" ads and substance-free smears, but the Rovian tactics are the equivalent of political crack. They provide a nice instant high (in the form of talk show chattering), but the buzz fades fast, and relying solely on media chatter requires hit after hit to keep the bimbo pundits' attention. Already, the "celebrity" critique has begun morphing from a clever ploy to an over-used, slightly confusing cliche'.

McCain shrieks and slobbers and preens, while Obama grinds. The end result, I suspect, will involve Obama winning close state after close state, eventually crushing McCain in the electoral college.

Nice, but why is the DNC lagging so far behind this year?

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The DNC is ALWAYS out performed by the RNC in fund raising. Always.

Accept, of course, this month.

Which is very bad new for McCain.

Something I think needs to be addressed is the fact that all those FISA fanatics didn't really affect Obama's fundraising. At all. I thought Obama was supposed to raise significantly less in July as a result of fewer donations from the far-left liberal netroots opposed to FISA? =\

Word.

Making up the difference and more from the mid central left not so liberals who want or don't care if their privacy rights are violated?

I think it'd be better phrased as, "more and more people realizing that Barack Obama is a vastly superior candidate to John McCain" -- but you can put it in whatever terms make you comfortable. =)

I'm not sure the far left liberal roots were ever funding Obama all that much. Obamaniacs I meet seem liberal, to be sure, but less strident and more pragmatic. I know I'm generalizing, but the "far left" was much more fond of pipe dreams like Kucinich or Dodd. (or, gasp, the newly populist Edwards....) Obama's message of 'hope' and civility appeals to a slightly different constituency than the angry part of the progressives.

Oh, observer, I agree completely! Don't get me wrong. I'm simply going by what "they" personally argued. That "they" got Obama the nomination, so "they" were gonna cut him off for FISA, and so his fundraising would be crippled. So many people (especially here on TPM, and over at the god-awful DKos) said "wait until his July fundraising numbers come in! Then he'll see that he needs to listen to us", or some variation...

The fabric in Glen Greenwald's panties is in for a serious test today.

You took the words right out of my mouth. =)

Lol! Cracked me up yet again. Man, you totally are on roll today.

LOL. Eat it, Glenn.

Groups like this can make a lot impact in the media but in the end do not actually represent a sizeable constituency. This is a similiar dynamic as with the PUMA people.

Man Halperin just can't help himself..
From the Page's post on Obama's haul.
"Falls short of his top monthly take– $55 million in February."
http://thepage.time.com/2008/08/16/obama-pulls-in-51-million-in-july/

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This is FANTASTIC news. In the July doldrums the Obama campaign raised >$50 million.

I expect with the Dem convention that Obama will raise far MORE than than in August.

Then the general election starts after the Dem convention thus people who already maxed out $2300 for the primary can give an ADDITIONAL $2300 for the general election.

I wouldn't be surprised to see in August and September that the Obama campaign has raised >$100 million.

Although I was thinking the same thing, I'm trying to stay conservative in my Obama-fundraising-predictions. We'll see, though. I was certainly thinking more than $50 million. Somewhere around $80 million was my guess, but we shall certainly see, shan't we?

Wow...the Obama campaign is sitting on a goldmine.

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The DNC raised MORE money than the RNC did last month!!!

$28 million!!!

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couple of interesting polls:

rasmussen, who continues to pose questions in ways to favor republicans---(including a blatantly racist poll 3 weeks ago, based on triangulating mcCain ads)---24% of Democrats say it’s at least Somewhat Likely that Clinton herself will end up as the Democratic standard bearer. That figure includes 11% who say it’s Very Likely Clinton will be the nominee.

Gallup internals of the 44-44 tie, shows mcCain ahead 50-40 in the south, but he is down 50-40 in the west, 50-38 in the west, and 51-38 in the east.

One can only hope that mexico does not invade and try to take over the south---we might have to ask Georgia to send in troops to help defend us. Wait---that would not work--they would support the invasion on behalf of McCain.....


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Hard to believe, but David Broder actually has a pretty interesting column documenting his visit to Obama HQ:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503098.html

The Obama people cite a different metric for success, derived from the ground game:

"That's why I pay more attention to the registration figures than to the polls I see at this time of year," [Obama Campaign Manager David] Plouffe said. "The polls will change, but we know we need 200,000 new voters to be competitive in Georgia, and now is when we have to get them."

Precisely! Glad to be hearing it straight from the campaign.

Agreed.

This is such a monty haul campaign.

So both Obama and McCain are still spending primary monies? So Obama hasn't tapped any Ge money yet himself? SO if each of his 2M primary donors could chip in an average of $100 (understanding that the max donors would make up for the folks who can manage $25), he could have a $200M war chest to spend over two months?

Here's a pretty good story on what numbers the Obama camp is currently focusing on (hint it's not the polls) - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503098.html

But the Obama folks are not leaving it to chance. Plouffe said that "turnout is the big variable," and the campaign is devoting an unusually large budget to register scads of new voters and bring them to the polls. "That's how we win the Floridas and Ohios," he said, mentioning two states that went narrowly for George W. Bush. "And that's how we get competitive in the Indianas and Virginias," two of six or seven states that long have been Republican -- but are targets this year.

"That's why I pay more attention to the registration figures than to the polls I see at this time of year," Plouffe said. "The polls will change, but we know we need 200,000 new voters to be competitive in Georgia, and now is when we have to get them."

Dammit. I'm a slow typer.

Jonze,

There are 500,000 unregistered black voters in Georgia. That is an untapped reserve the Obama campaign i hope is focusing on. And i hope they will take this mass amount of campaign money and put it towards defining McCain.

I think Obama could make a longshot play for Georgia because of Bob Barr, and McCain cosying up to Ralph Reed there.

Regardless, it's one thing to get new folks registered, it's a whole other story to get them out to vote. The Obama camp is going to have to be a well-oiled machine come November 4th, to get out the vote.

I don't think Obama should publicly flex his money advantage muscle because it the GOP will A]Use it as a rallying cry and B]It will surely encourage 527 groups to run smear ads. Match McCain on the air with ads, and destroy him on the ground. Then come the final two weeks of the campaign, launch an all out air attack when it would be too late for a 527 to get anything together.

Of course Obama could use the same tactic he used against Clinton and make McCain spend him limited money early and often. However I could forsee McCain running out of money before the election and then raising such a stink about it how it's un-American that a candidate will win because he has more money.

Sorry, I have to count myself among the disappointed. I doubled down on my contribution last month on the assumption that the Obama campaign had to start seeing a major uptick in the monthly haul in order to be fully competitive in the GE. I was expecting -- seriously -- $60 to $70 million, minimum. I did not expect Obama to raise less than he did way back in February, when his pool of donors was half a million compared to today's 2 million. And I certainly didn't expect him to come in under, however slightly, last month's donations. McC and the RNC expect to have a war chest of $300 million for the GE. As least that's what I'm hearing gadded about. Assuming Obama raises $50 million a month from now on, that leaves him about $100 million short, does it not? What am I missing about all the "good news" here?

You know how many people are actually paying attention to the campaign? The fact that Obama can haul in $50+ million two months in a row in the middle of summer is freaking amazing.

Maybe you don't remember how the GE plays out in this sense because of how hotly contested the primary was. Everyone was paying attention, so many more people were donating, getting involved, etc. Many people seem to have forgotten that a lull around this time is normal. But $50+ million for a lulling part of the election? Damn. That's impressive

We're in the slow part of the GE. Once the VPs get picked and the Conventions roll around, you can expect that things will pick up. And pick up very quickly.

Is that the same reason McCain raised $5 million more in July than he raised in June? If Obama had raised $5 million more in July, that would put him at $56 million, still short of my $60 million expectation but at least a record haul. I'd be happy then. As it stands, I'm left uncertain whether all those inattentive voters (when they finally do wake up from their comma, as you predict) will come through with the REALLY BIG BUCKS it's going to take to win. However, I will cling to your optimism -- AND DOUBLE DOWN AGAIN!!!

To be honest, Obama has been ahead the entire summer, especially during July. It wouldn't surprise me if Republicans, seeing this, came out in "droves" for McCain. Obama has bee steady, and I honestly hold it up to complacency. Still, fundraising is always best after the Conventions, and I expect it to be the same this year.

Where would this $300M war chest come from? McCain will get his $84M of public money, so the RNC has $216M cash on hand?

Of course the RNC doesn't have $200 million cash on hand. I'm talking projections. The RNC has three months to continue raising money to supplement McCain's $84 million in public financing. With Bush, bundlers, lobbyists, and big oil throwing into the pile -- hey, they can make it to $300 million.

Does anyone know why those chose to drop this news on Saturday? I would think they would do it on Monday morning to get some more attention.

I think they want to downplay their money advantage. Both because it probably hurts their fund raising efforts in a "I don't need to donate because everybody else is" kind of way, and probably helps fuel McCain/GOP donations.

So that the number is known for the Sunday talk shows. Otherwise McCain's 'record' haul would be discussed without Obama's number for context.

I would imagine the VP pick could be coming soon, so they figured to drop this info a little early.

Y'all don't get it. McCain only needs cash to persuade a few swings voters. Pretty cheap campaign. The stalwart Republicans are already committed.

Soetoro needs to feed his machine, stroke the flakey Obamites, convince Clinton supporters AND persuade swing voters. Very expensive and likely undoable at any price.

Barry has peaked, flat-lined. Obama fatique has set in. His major donors are tapped. And the shooting war hasn't even really begun.

Clinton '08 or '12.

Soetoro needs to feed his machine, stroke the flakey Obamites, convince Clinton supporters AND persuade swing voters. Very expensive and likely undoable at any price.

McCain needs to feed his machine, stroke the entire social conservative right, stroke the entire religious conservative right, stroke the fundamental conservative right, convince all the aforementioned groups that he's as conservative as George Bush while distancing himself from Bush and trying to keep the false image of a maverick to try to convince swing voters. Very expensive and likely undoable at any price.

Barry has peaked, flat-lined. Obama fatique has set in. His major donors are tapped. And the shooting war hasn't even really begun.

He...has? This is news to me. And his major donors can donate again after the Convention, so he can tap more and more money. Not to mention all those Clinton donors who will come onboard once the Convention is over and Obama is officially the nominee.

Come on, fogu, you can troll better than that! You disappoint me. =\

Sorry, but the truth can be boring.

It'd still the truth.


You brought a friend this time? I like where this is goin'...

Boy howdy, that's some brilliant analysis, as always. You should go apply for a job with McCain's campaign right now. We, er, I mean they definitely need someone with your demonstrated strategic insight on their team.

Occam's Razor. Simple explanations are usually right and do not require the typical Obamite paragraphs of pointless blather.

Elegant simplicity. Try it sometime.

They've been saying this every month since January.

LOL.

We have an analysis of the July fundraising figures up at Strategy '08.
http://strategy08.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/july-fundraising-obama-nearly-doubles-mccain-dnc-outraises-rnc/

THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR MCCAIN!!!

I was wondering where you were, idiotic. Glad to see you're back. =D

New DNC web ad linking McCain to Ralph Reed and Jack Abramoff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvXcY-u7MJM&eurl

Well, I consider myself "far left," and I'm probably what you'd call a pragmatic voter. I've been pro-Obama for months now, and while I disagree with him on this'n'that, he IS so vastly superior to any other candidate in my adult life, he gets my vote. AND my dollars.

I wasted my vote in 2000 by writing in Nader (hangs head in abject shame) though it made no difference in my state.

NOTE to trolls: IMHO Obama is not now, nor never has been, "far left." But he's a daqmn good guy for a politician. And that's enough. More than enough.

OnTheIssues describes him as a "hard-core liberal" based on his voting record and position on the issues. But he's a pragmatist, whereas those such as Glen Greenwald are not.

I love the way people are throwing around numbers like 50 million and 60 million like it is no big deal. In the history of presidential races NO CANDIDATE has ever raised 50 million in a month let alone 2 month in a row. Bush raised close to 300 million and that was considered a record. 50 million is a lot of money, heck 20 million is a lot. That is about what Bush averaged in '04.

We all need to come down to earth here and realize what is realistic. It is like watching the olympics and see a guy break a world record by 2 seconds and say, "I thought he would break it by 5 or 6 seconds" he broke a record that means no one else has done it, that is a good thing.

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I guess you can call Obama "the money man"!

Yeah...well....celebrities can raise lots of money.....and he wants to tax people.....or something.

just wish he'd start spending some of it. some "did you like George Bush?" ads would be nice

McCain is FINISHED in Colorado, FINISHED. TPM get on the story of McCain saying Colorado's water compact and how he was thrown under the bus by BOTH the republican and democratic senate candidates.

Interesting, is it that bad of a gaffe? I'm not from there so I wouldn't know.

Colorado is almost as touchy about their water as us flatlanders in the Central Valley of California

and we share a common opponent

out here, water is kinda like the Social Security, of local politics. It's a "Third Rail" issue; touch it and die

people who hate politics or don't care to vote, get motivated against anybody who tries messing with the water, especially to ship more water to Los Angeles

we like shipping water to LA the same way Nevada likes being the nation's nuclear waste dump

hence, the "OVER MY DEAD BODY" rhetoric

It refers to the money he still has from all money he has gotten minus all the expenses.

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