Deaniacs open their wallets for '08 hopefuls

[Omaha Steve]

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/deaniacs-open-their-wallets-for-08-hopefuls-2007-10-05.html

By Alexander Bolton
October 05, 2007

Donors who made Howard Dean the Democratic presidential front-runner ahead of the 2004 Iowa caucuses have flocked to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), helping him raise more money than any other White House candidate this year, according to a review of fundraising records.

During the first half of 2007, 634 Dean donors contributed $200 or more to Obama’s campaign. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Obama’s chief rival, collected such contributions from 413 Dean donors. Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), who has tried to appeal to the Democrats’ liberal base with fiery rhetoric, collected contributions from 371 so-called Deaniacs.

The three Democratic candidates vying for the lead in the Iowa polls likely have received contributions from more Dean supporters, but an exact breakdown of their funding is unavailable because the law only requires campaigns to report contributions of $200 or more. Nevertheless, the giving patterns of larger donors provides an indication of the allegiances of Democrats responsible for Dean’s surprising surge to the front of the presidential pack in 2003.

The data was derived from a list of contributions made this year by former Dean donors compiled by the Federal Election Commission.

While more Dean donors have given to Obama, Clinton has raised money from Dean Democrats in larger increments. She has raised $945,000 from former Dean donors. Obama has raised $878,000. Data on contributions made in the third quarter of 2007 is not yet available.

Four years ago, Dean appealed chiefly to Democrats with college degrees and Democrats who strongly opposed the war in Iraq. This enabled him to raise unprecedented amounts of money via the Internet. At the end of 2003, Dean had raised a then-astonishing $41 million for his campaign. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who won the nomination, raised only $19.5 million for his campaign.

FULL story at link.

[msongs]

1. second time around for this article - and Dean is still better than any 08 contender nt