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Obama Breaks an Early Record for Fundraising

Posted on: Monday, 2 July 2007, 06:20 CDT

By Fredreka Schouten

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama raised at least $32.5 million from April through June for his White House bid, his campaign said Sunday -- shattering the record for presidential fundraising in the first six months of the year before an election year.

The first-term Democrat has collected more than $58million this year. That surpasses the previous record of $37.3million collected during the first six months of 1999 by George W. Bush, then governor of Texas. Obama's haul for the past three months also exceeds the $27 million that his top Democratic rival, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, reported raising last week for the second-quarter fundraising period, which ended Saturday.

The former first lady has raised at least $53million through the first half of the year. She also transferred an extra $10 million from her Senate campaign fund.

The vast majority of Obama's second-quarter donations -- $31 million -- will be used for the primary, his campaign manager David Plouffe said. Clinton raised more than $21 million for the primary during the second quarter and about $6 million for the general election contest if she wins the Democratic nomination, spokesman Blake Zeff said.

Final second-quarter fundraising details won't be available until July 15, when candidates must file their reports with the Federal Election Commission. The early fundraising totals, however, are a measure of a candidate's popularity with donors and their ability to remain competitive in what is likely to be the nation's most expensive presidential contest. Clinton and Obama raised nearly equal amounts of money during the first quarter, and are in first and second place, respectively, in national polls for the nomination.

Obama's strong showing shows his campaign's threat to Clinton, said Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist who ran Al Gore's 2000 campaign. "While he's new to national politics, there's a huge desire for change. A lot of this is new money, and from people who are clearly energized about this election."

Obama raised money from 154,000 people during the second quarter, up from 100,000 in the first quarter. Clinton collected money from 60,000 donors in the first three months, and relied more heavily than any other candidate on donors who contributed $4,600, the maximum an individual can give to a candidate for the primary and general elections.

Anthony Corrado, a campaign-finance expert at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, said Obama "is widening and deepening his fundraising base -- a base that will be able to sustain his fundraising success in the months ahead." Given their fundraising totals so far, he said, both Clinton and Obama will have the resources they need to compete through the crush of early primaries. At least 20 states are expected to stage primaries on Feb. 5.

Former North Carolina senator John Edwards reported Sunday that he had raised $9 million during the second quarter -- down from $14million in the first quarter. That puts him in a distant third place in fundraising among Democrats.

"This isn't a money race," Edwards' adviser Joe Trippi said Sunday. "It's a race to win the nomination, and that's what we'll do."

Republican presidential candidates have not yet released fundraising totals but have sought to lower expectations. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who led GOP fundraising after the first three months of the year, will raise less than the $20.7 million he collected in the first quarter, campaign aides said in a memo. (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

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