Obama, DNC amass $240 million campaign war chest

[harvey007]

WASHINGTON – President Obama and the Democratic Party have raised more than $240 million for his re-election, swamping his rivals' fundraising as the president races to build a war chest to defend against the eventual Republican nominee and deep-pocketed GOP "super PACS."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-01-12/obama-campaign-fundraising/52521796/1

[woo me with science]

1. We need to get the damned money out of politics.

Occupy.

[ronnie624]

3. Absolutely necessary to reform.

Nothing can happen before this incentive to corruption is removed.

And while we're at it, we need to close the 'revolving door' between regulation and big business.

[NewJeffCT]

2. chump change to what the Republican affiliated groups

can throw at the race...

[The Stranger]

10. Does anyone keep track of the GOP Super Pacs and other fundraising sources?

[NewJeffCT]

16. I'm sure somebody is trying to track it

but, those Super PACs have a ton of money, and then outside groups like the NRA, religious groups, etc tend to dwarf union and MoveOn spending as well.

[provis99]

19. I'm sure JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup

can spare a few bucks for their candidate Obama.

[NewJeffCT]

21. Not really

while Obama got a lot of Wall Street money in 2008, it's almost all going to Republicans now.

[SaintPete]

4. I know Obama was trying to raise a billion for this campaign

they'll have to hit 75 million per month from here out to make that goal?

Where was Obama at this point in 2008? Anyone know?

[FrenchieCat]

22. Pundits say that Obama might raise a Billion.....

but Obama hasn't said a thing about it....

With the current day superpac, that's what he most likely would need,
and they could still top him,
when we couple money with voter supression.....

No, this election won't be easy....
but I wanted to clarify the record,
since enough folks already lie about what
Obama has said and done. We don't need any extras....

[DCKit]

5. Will a dime of that go to any progressive candidate? I think not. nt

[ellisonz]

20. Depends on your definition...

...of progressive.

[MinervaX]

6. War chest. Love how they describe an election as waging war on the electorate

Is there anything that goes on in this country that doesn't have imperialist overtones?

[Scurrilous]

7. "Love how they describe an election as waging war on the electorate.."

That's how you describe it, not them.

[MinervaX]

8. I didn't describe it as a "war chest".

They did.

[onenote]

9. You're the one that described it as waging war on the electorate

when most people (meaning pretty much everyone but you, apparently) would understand the war chest reference as referring to the battle against the opposing candidate, not against the voters.

[MinervaX]

11. You aren't that naive are you?

A political campaign is treated by politicians as all out warfare.

[onenote]

13. I'm quite certain that I'm not the one who is naive on this thread

Naive (definition 2): .Showing or characterized by a lack of sophistication and critical judgment: "this extravagance of metaphors, with its naive bombast" (H.L. Mencken).

More to the point, I've worked on campaigns at a fairly high level and not once, ever, did I hear anyone suggest that we were at war with the electorate. Was it a "war" against the opposing candidate/party? Sure. But not in a militaristic sense any more than when the Super Bowl is played, some will describe the two teams as going to war against each other.

[hughee99]

23. The election isn't waging war on the electorate,

that happens AFTER the election.

[MADem]

12. I hate money in politics, but so long as we're stuck with it, we need more of it than they have! nt

[jimbo92107]

14. Big Money backs Romney

I read recently that of the ten richest campaign contributors so far this year, seven of them are writing megabuck checks in support of Mitt Romney. That much money ensures Willard will be the Republican nominee. It also hints that whatever money the RNC has collected so far is chump change compared to the money that will land in the Super PACs backing Republicans in 2012.

Mountains of corporate and rich-guy money will finance Romney and other Republican candidates this election year.

Bank on it.

[craigmatic]

15. how much has the rnc raised?

[tclambert]

17. The way to beat them is to convince corporate leaders that the Dems will win.

Most corporations just want to be on the side of the winner, so they can curry favor. If they become convinced Obama will win, as is seeming more and more likely, they won't waste they campaign investments on a loser like Romney.

[Wilms]

18. Just a few days ago was the news about $38m raised in small donations.

Something like 98% was donation under $250.

So where did this money come from. The 1%? Who will call the tunes (again)?