Obama's cache of cash; now he must keep filling it
WASHINGTON (AP) - July 17, 2008 The Democratic nominee-in-waiting had his second-best
fundraising month in June, a $52 million haul that swamped
presidential rival John McCain by more than 2-1. He also got a big
boost from his party, which raised nearly five times as much as it
had in May.
The new figures underscore the Illinois senator's status as a
fundraising star. He has raised $340 million during his
presidential run to McCain's $132 million.
Obama's June total also reversed a three-month decline and
helped close a cash-on-hand gap between the Democratic and
Republican presidential operations. Together, Obama and the
Democratic National Committee had $92 million in the bank at the
end of June compared with $96 million for McCain and the Republican
National Committee.
But the totals also set a tough new standard for Obama's
presidential campaign: The $52 million he raised in June is now a
baseline, not a high water mark.
"For him to maintain the pace that it looks as if he will need,
he will have to match his best-ever month every month," said
Michael Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance
Institute, a nonpartisan group that tracks trends in political
money. "That's what he's done this time, pretty close to his
best-ever month, and he'll need to sustain this pace or increase
it."
Obama's best fundraising month was February, when he took in $55
million.
Overall, the McCain campaign has estimated that it and
Republican Party committees will have $400 million to spend on the
presidential election in the months before the November election.
To surpass that level of spending, Obama and the Democratic
Party will have to raise about $100 million a month.
That task is making some Democrats anxious.
"You don't want to be in a situation at the critical time in
September and October when you have not met your budget
expectations," said Hassan Nemazee, who was Hillary Rodham
Clinton's national financial co-chair and is now raising money for
Obama and the DNC. "You're going to find yourself between a rock
and hard place in terms of meeting your numbers."
McCain plans to accept $84 million in public money in the fall -
money he won't have to lift a finger to collect but which will
limit his campaign's spending in the fall. The RNC and other party
committees will foot the remainder of his campaign bills through
coordinated and independent spending on his behalf.
Obama chose to become the first candidate in three decades to
bypass the public funds - the money from checkoff boxes on
taxpayers' returns - and that places a premium on his ability to
raise more than McCain's $84 million.
"We have developed a strategy - a very aggressive strategy -
that will only work if our millions of supporters continue to
contribute their time and their money," Obama campaign manager
David Plouffe said in an e-mail to donors Thursday.
Then there's Clinton, Obama's foe-turned-supporter.
How much the Obama campaign plans to rely on Clinton's former
donors remains to be seen. Her fundraisers say it will be much
easier for them to raise money for Obama if his donors contribute
to Clinton to help reduce her vendor debts, which at the end of May
stood at about $10 million and growing.
"The most readily available, identifiable pool of new people
for the Obama campaign to access is unquestionably the Clinton
donors," said Nemazee, who personally raised $400,000 for Obama
and the DNC in a matter of days recently.
Tad Devine, a political strategist who was a senior adviser in
Democrat John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, says Obama could
overcome many financial obstacles by selecting Clinton as his
running mate.
"If you're planning the first general election that is not
going to be financed by public money and you have the potential to
pick someone who has already demonstrated the capacity to raise in
excess of $200 million, I would think that would be an enormously
consequential consideration," he said.
Obama has maintained a busy fundraising schedule in July,
holding at least one event a night as he campaigns in big-dollar
locales such as Atlanta, Chicago, Washington and New York.
Nevertheless, he is taking himself out of the fundraising circuit
starting this week when he leaves for at least a week of foreign
travel.
Both Obama and McCain have been helping raise money for their
respective parties, as well. The DNC had raised only $4.7 million
in May, but after Obama locked up the nomination the party raised
$22.5 million. The RNC also is getting help from President Bush,
who was scheduled to attend an RNC fundraiser in Napa, Calif.,
Thursday evening that was expected to raise $850,000.
Both campaigns are already spending their money. Obama has set
up big field operations in several states, most recently in the new
battleground of Virginia. The campaigns are also spending
significantly on advertising - Obama about $7.6 million a week in
18 states and McCain and the RNC together some $7.3 million a week
in 11 states.
Several Democratic fundraisers and strategists predicted money
will come to Obama and the DNC in ever-increasing amounts. They say
the Democratic National Convention in late August should serve as a
springboard for record cash.
"I don't think summer fundraising at the end of a primary is a
barometer for the potential fundraising in the general election,"
said Devine.
Obama has had extraordinary success tapping small donors through
the Internet, particularly young people motivated to give for the
first time. But he has caused some consternation recently among his
core supporters for supporting an intelligence bill that many
Democrats opposed and for other moves that appeared designed to
attract more moderate independent voters.
It is significant that of the $52 million that Obama raised in
June, only $2 million was for the general election. That means that
he has been able to continue to tap new donors and donors who have
yet to contribute the $2,300 maximum for the primary portion of his
campaign. And he can go to them again for general election
contributions.
Unlike McCain, Obama can roll over unused primary election money
into the fall general election contest.
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On the Net:
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