Obama: The $50 million man

[babylonsister]

Obama: The $50 million man
Sources say the Illinois senator shatters monthly donation records, tops Clinton's own hefty $35 million haul

By Christi Parsons and Rick Pearson | Tribune correspondents
February 29, 2008



FT. WORTH — Fundraising numbers in the Democratic race for president shot into the stratosphere in the month of February, with reports from aides to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama putting the staggering combined figure at somewhere in the range of $85 million.

Clinton touted the news that she had raised $35 million as evidence of the vitality of her campaign, as she conducted a furious day of campaigning in Ohio and Texas, where voters could decide her fate in the campaign on Tuesday.

The Obama camp responded coyly, saying only that they would surpass the $35 million figure by reporting "considerably more"—and then sat back without official comment amid news reports of their skyrocketing February total.

One member of Obama's finance committee told the Tribune that some reports from within the campaign indicate their fundraising could hit $50 million this month.

Even by the most conservative reading, the campaign totals have now shattered yet another ceiling—for the amount of money raised in a single month. Already, the funds raised and spent in the Democratic primary race have dwarfed that of every nominating contest in U.S. history.

more...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-democrats-campaign-funds-feb29,0,6118246.story

[catgirl]

1. I've read 60 million +

The people are speaking.

[acmavm]

2. That's one of the very few positives that I can see in regard to

his running for the presidency. He's given corporate America a rude awakening.

[Benhurst]

4. Yeah, I guess so.

The corporations are just folks, too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4060908

[Benhurst]

3. Whew! Thank God the progressive drive to take money out of our elections

never got anywhere. What a silly idea that was. We have and shall continue to have the best government money can buy.

[stratomagi]

5. I think its a situation where you gotta play by the current rules

and something that can be changed when he actually gets in office. Wishful thinking of course. I'm for entirely publicly funded elections, but as it stands now we're too far in to be talking about reform in the middle of the election. Currently our democracy works by raising the most money and bludgeoning everyone to death with the idea that you would be the best president. If you go by those rules Obama wins hands down. Its simplistic but part of the reason Obama should be the nominee is because he's kicking ass in spite of the rules by going along with those same rules.