On The Subject of Obama’s Fundraising — Another Shoe to Drop?
Posted by WLS:
This post may be overtaken by events in the days ahead, but I’ve been thinking about when/if we will see fallout in Obama’s fundraising that might be tied to the series of controversies surrounding him beginning with the Rev. Wright affair, and running through some of his policy reversals over the last couple weeks.
As a recap, here are some of the pertinent fundraising numbers for Obama going back to the first quarter of 2007 when he announced his candidacy:
Q1– $25 million
Q2 — $31 million
Q3 — $19 million
Q4 — $24 million
For 2008, the reporting has been monthly rather than quarterly:
Jan — $37 million
Feb — $57 million
Mar — $43 million
Apr — $32 million
May — $23 million
Obama was able to put distance between him and Clinton beginning with a win in the Louisiana primary on Feb. 9. He won 10 straight contests over her after Super Tuesday when the Clinton campaign had not game-planned a scenario where Clinton had not secured the nomination on Super Tuesday and Obama was better prepared to continue the fight. Between Super Tuesday (Feb. 5) and Clinton’s wins in Texas and Ohio on March 4, Obama won contests in LA, ME, VA, DC, MD, WI, WA, and HI, creating the cushion over her in pledged delegates that held up through PR in June.
Having won key early contests in Iowa and SC, Obama was able to raise $37 million in Jan., and after surviving Super Tuesday, he raised $57 million in Feb at the same time he went on his winning streak.
With the Clinton winning in Texas and Ohio in early March to stay in the race, Obama contined to raise money at a significant rate in March ($43 million).
But it was March 13 that the Rev. Wright affair hit the airwaves, and it was March 18 that Obama gave his race speech in Philadephia. Needless to say, that was only the beginning of his trouble as various assocations from his days in Chicago began to come to the surface for the first time.
April fundraising — $32 million (-11 million from March)
May fundraising — $23 million.
While it might make perfect sense to conclude that Obama’s fundraising was certain to take a pause after it became clear in mid-April that he was going to prevail over Clinton for the nomination, there still remains the question of whether he will show any signs of continuing weakness in fundraising as a fallout from the controversies that dogged him in March and April, as well as from the lag in enthusiasm that might be beginning to set in on the left-wing as he begins to walk-back from them on issues like FISA reform, Iraq, gun control, death penalty, etc.
They’ll still vote for him in November, but will they contribute money to him as aggressively as they did before these warts began to appear?
I have another line of reasoning
rwallis (66cb41) — 6/30/2008 @ 4:44 pm1) most(or at least a good portion) of Obamas money came from small donations
2) It is projected that He will receive more than $500 billion more
3) the economy is tight, gas prices are sky high
4) the common guy is going to say “gee so many others are giving, and gas is high, do I give Obama another $25 or put $25 worth of gas in the car so I can go to work? I think I’ll buy the gas to go to work and let the others donate to His Highness
Obama may come up a little short on funds
Greenwald’s anti-Fisa Compromise 527 might be taking a little wind out of Obama’s fund raising sails. Shit, I think the last I saw it was up to $350,000.
daleyrocks (d9ec17) — 6/30/2008 @ 4:48 pmI’ve wondered if instead of tracking Obama’s worn off teflon, that what is being tracked is the threat of Hillary. That the fervor of Obama’s donations reflected the intensity of Hillary hatred. Obama’s popularity always had as a foundation that he was not Hillary.
SPQR (26be8b) — 6/30/2008 @ 4:49 pmdaleyrocks: ROFL.
SPQR (26be8b) — 6/30/2008 @ 4:50 pmIf only he could have moved into the White House last week when he had that podium all ready to go. But time marches on… and now Barry needs money to fight the evil-doers.
Vermont Neighbor (31ccb6) — 6/30/2008 @ 5:00 pmI have a prediction.
Obama will raise vastly more dough than McCain.
And it’ll be very likely a key reason Obama is our next President.
I still get over that George Bush has fucked things up so bad that a black man named Hussein Obama is going to be our next President.
jharp (9b1a32) — 6/30/2008 @ 5:17 pmYet again, the racism shines through. You must be really proud of your party if the only reason they chose their candidate was because of the color of his skin, rather than the content of his character.
Or, to be more precise, the lack thereof. (You can decide which half I meant that for…)
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 6/30/2008 @ 5:21 pmjharp’s ignorance on display once again —
McCain isn’t raising money for his campaign. He’s accepted public financing — holding true to his word, unlike Obama.
Try again.
WLS (68fd1f) — 6/30/2008 @ 5:22 pmWell, at least we’re honest about the fact that Baracky threw his convictions under the bus when the gleam of money showed up.
steve miller (0fb51f) — 6/30/2008 @ 5:22 pmjharp is back trolling with more of his racist crap again I see.
SPQR (26be8b) — 6/30/2008 @ 5:24 pmWith a side of How Completely Fucked Up America Is. I mean really! A black man!
Next thing you know, they’ll be putting one on the Supreme Court. Hell in a handbasket, I tell ya.
Pablo (99243e) — 6/30/2008 @ 5:28 pmWait till a black woman can control mediocre minds through only a remote control. That’s the real hat trick.
Vermont Neighbor (31ccb6) — 6/30/2008 @ 6:06 pmDo you have any corresponding information regarding how much of what he’s raised he’s already spent? The side by side would be interesting.
More power to him for having a bottomless well from which to draw. That said, he seems to spend like a drunken sailor, which I don’t regard very highly. Indeed, I’d like to see the May and June spending numbers because I wonder whether he incurred a spike to pay for Michelle’s makeover–image consultants, polling, the works. What a laugh–an attempt to makeover Aunt Esther from “Sanford & Son.”
SAM (c36902) — 6/30/2008 @ 7:22 pm#11- well “they” (libs) did try to keep the black man off the SCOTUS by borking him. Fat Teddy showed his true colors again. A black leader might be ok if he’s not an oreo or uncle tom. And what is anita hill up to these days? Still garnering plaudits, I gather?
madmax333 (d981e4) — 6/30/2008 @ 7:26 pmYou had a single black mother (Janice Rogers Brown)with sterling credentials who should have gotten an appointment to a higher appeals court at least, but liberals were agin her. Thanks Graham and McCain.
Matters not to me that 1/16 black Obama is multi-racial. He’s the one who apprently finds his white side abhorrent. The dickwad had to go look for his street cred in Wright’s nuthouse church and also fellate various crooks and unrepenetant terrorists for their influence.
Can we get a graph of those figures?
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 6/30/2008 @ 8:28 pmComment by madmax333 — 6/30/2008 @ 7:26 pm
“The dickwad had to go look for his street cred in Wright’s nuthouse church and also fellate various crooks and unrepenetant terrorists for their influence.”
Don’t sugarcoat it…but I love it. And ditto!
SAM (c36902) — 6/30/2008 @ 8:40 pmLast week someone detailed the Obama contributions and showed that while he has a large >>number<>dollars<< came in the form of large contributions. Of course, once you have tapped those contributors, they are unable to contribute again.
This is consistent with democratic campaign funding over the last few decades – where few, very rich contributors provided the lion’s share of contributions to the candidates and the party.
in_awe (bc82df) — 6/30/2008 @ 10:59 pmSam: Aunt Esther works for me! Really funny. Except that old Esther had more charm and humor than the caustic Mrs. Obama could ever hope to possess. That’s with or without image consultants!
Vermont Neighbor (31ccb6) — 7/1/2008 @ 10:19 amWould he back out of public funding if he wasnt sure of raising enough money for the GE from his base? Not likely. I believe the democrats will overwhelminly support him for the fall election. Dont let the May figures deceive you. It reflects the fact that that was the end of the primary season. It was all too certain that he had wrapped up the nomination battle, hence the drop in contribution.
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 7/1/2008 @ 10:44 amLove2008 — I think he will raise more than the $85 million that he would have received from public financing, but I question whether he’ll be able to raise the $200-300 million that has been suggested.
I think one key assumption they made in coming to that estimate is that they could get a large number of Clinton’s financial backers to write $2300 checks to Obama ($4600 for couples). We shall see if that comes to pass.
WLS (68fd1f) — 7/1/2008 @ 12:19 pmObama is a flip-flopping lying turncoat;
The NY Times said it best:
“Senator Barack Obama stirred his legions of supporters, and raised our hopes, promising to change the old order of things. … Now there seems to be a new Barack Obama on the hustings. First, he broke his promise to try to keep both major parties within public-financing limits for the general election. … The new Barack Obama has abandoned his vow to filibuster an electronic wiretapping bill if it includes an immunity clause for telecommunications companies that amounts to a sanctioned cover-up of Mr. Bush’s unlawful eavesdropping after 9/11. … The Barack Obama of the primary season used to brag that he would stand before interest groups and tell them tough truths. The new Mr. Obama tells evangelical Christians that he wants to expand President Bush’s policy of funneling public money for social spending to religious-based organizations — a policy that violates the separation of church and state and turns a government function into a charitable donation. Mr. Obama endorsed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the District of Columbia’s gun-control law. We knew he ascribed to the anti-gun-control groups’ misreading of the Constitution as implying an individual right to bear arms. But it was distressing to see him declare that the court provided a guide to ‘reasonable regulations enacted by local communities to keep their streets safe.’ … We were equally distressed by Mr. Obama’s criticism of the Supreme Court’s barring the death penalty for crimes that do not involve murder
tom (71acd0) — 7/10/2008 @ 7:26 pm““The dickwad had to go look for his street cred in Wright’s nuthouse church and also fellate various crooks and unrepenetant terrorists for their influence.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself!!
I’m in awe of your eloquence.
tom (71acd0) — 7/10/2008 @ 8:16 pmPosted on the Huffington post on 9 July:
“Major donors to Barack Obama’s campaign were told Wednesday evening that fundraising efforts were “a little slow” and that they should help retire Hillary Clinton’s campaign debt so that the New York Democrat’s supporters would, in turn, give to Obama.”
In June, McCain raised 22 million..his highest amount so far.
As of July 11, the Obama campaign has not released fundraising figures for June.
tom (71acd0) — 7/10/2008 @ 8:21 pmFollowing up on Tom’s comment, here’s an MSNBC link regarding McCain’s fundraising:
I imagine Obama will be reporting his June 2008 fundraising totals soon.
DRJ (cfa65f) — 7/10/2008 @ 8:42 pmGD LYING GOp
he has surpassed even with the news
so you are full of shit
nick (04803c) — 9/15/2008 @ 8:51 pmnick, catch up with the more recent posts.
SPQR (26be8b) — 9/15/2008 @ 8:52 pm