| Just as further news arrives of Clinton's deepening financial trouble --- she recently loaned $5 million of her personal fortune to her campaign (funds that have probably already been spent on advertising in the February 5th states) and word is out now that at least some of her senior staff are going without pay --- just as all this troubling news for the Clinton campaign is emerged, it comes out that Obama has raised $2.2 million in the last 24 hours. Not only is $2.2 million [*see Update*] a faster pace than Clinton plans to raise in the fundraising drive announced today by email for $3 million in three days, but, according to Obama campaign aides, it puts the campaign on track to raise $30 million again this quarter. And now conventional liberal fundraising powerhouses like MoveOn.org are starting to weigh in, sending out an email to their 3 million members encouraging them to donate. No candidate in American history has ever raised $32 million in a month. And Obama is planning to come close to repeating it again in February. Stunning. Because of the internet, a African-American recent state senator from the south side of Chicago will be wildly outraising the Clinton establishment --- and by a lot. Absolutely stunning. Now, I should say that the official campaign spokesman was somewhat worried by the talk of a repeat month, playing down expectations of reaching $30 million: Bill Burton, an Obama spokesman, cautioned that the fundraising pace may slip and downplayed talk of another $30 million month.
“We’re obviously pleased with the amount of grass-roots support that we have, but it’s way too early to be making predictions like that,” he said.
Regardless, it shows how much stronger a fundraising model Obama has built than Clinton. Traditionally, campaigns have relied on direct mail (which involves expensive mail buys and generally doesn't provide high returns) and traditional in-person fundraisers (which are expensive to host and require the candidate to take time off from the campaign trail). Moreover, the Obama model is far more sustainable. [A]ccording to the Obama campaign, only 3 percent of his donors have given the maximum $2,300 donation for the primary.
That means he can go back to the vast majority of his supporters, over and over again, and ask them to send another check.
Indeed, the strength of the Obama fundraising machine from the outset was based on its unusual recruitment and reliance on small donors.
At the very least, Clinton will almost certainly need to take time off from the campaign trail to host major-donor fundraisers. That will be the first cost of lagging financially. UPDATE: The Obama campaign now reports that it has raised $3 million since the polls closed yesterday. And there are still hours left before a full day has passed. They've sent out an email asking for supporters to match the $5 million Clinton loaned to her own campaign from her personal fortune. UPDATE II: They're closing in on $4 million. One has to wonder if the Obama campaign is close to someday being able to match the single-day fundraising totals of the Ron Paul campaign. (They already have far surpassed the Paul campaign in internet fundraising over the course of a month.) UPDATE III: Now approaching $5 million... |
