Biden nets fundraising windfall in 2-day Florida swing

[brooklynite]

Politico

Joe Biden collected $2.2 million this week from two Florida fundraisers, underscoring the former vice president’s pull with big-dollar Democratic donors and his front-runner status in a crowded presidential primary.

The twin fundraisers in the Miami and Orlando areas capped a month-long coast-to-coast cash dash by Biden, who spent the eve of his campaign announcement fretting about whether he could raise the money to prove he was the real deal. Biden then went on to shatter first-day fundraising records, as his campaign built an online small-dollar fundraising machine to complement his pursuit of traditional donors who can write max-out checks of $2,800 per election.

Biden’s huge two-day financial haul in Florida highlights the still-ample power of big donors in a Democratic primary field that has put more emphasis on digital dollars. The fundraising schedule and courting of donors by Biden used to be as common for a presidential campaign as printing mailers, but it now stands out as an increasingly vocal progressive wing and its favored candidates — Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders — have cast Biden’s fundraising in a negative light, which his donors resent.

“It’s sour grapes, like saying they wouldn’t join a club that wouldn’t have them as a member anyway,” said John Morgan, the Orlando-area trial lawyer who hosted a Biden fundraiser at his home on Tuesday and said after the event that he had collected $1.8 million in donations and future pledges to Biden.