In Past Two Weeks, Large Donors Gave Obama $11 Million

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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/03/in_past_two_weeks_obama_raised.html

In Past Two Weeks, Large Donors Gave Obama $11 Million

By Matthew Mosk


Sen. Barack Obama's campaign has been trying to keep donors worried about the possibility of being swamped by attack ads in the final hours of the 2008 campaign.

"Our spending plans have been stretched by John McCain's negative attacks and the overwhelming resources of the Republican National Committee," warned a recent e-mail the campaign sent to supporters. "Right now we need your help more than ever to get this campaign across the finish line."

But by the look of the campaign's reports to the Federal Election Commission, the Obama camp hasn't had too much to worry about. Over the past two weeks, the campaign has raised $11 million in large donations of $1,000 or greater. For the most part, that's money that has come in with minimal effort; since mid-October, Obama has devoted almost all of his time to campaigning and very little to fundraising efforts.

That $11 million figure doesn't include all the small dollar contributions generated by e-mail solicitations, which had the potential to raise tens of millions of dollars more for Obama to spend during the final days of the campaign. How much money arrived in smaller donations won't be reported until after the election, as the FEC only requires candidates to report contributions of $1,000 or greater during the final 20 days of the campaign. But it is safe to assume the amounts raised from the smaller donations were many magnitudes greater, thanks to the lack of large-dollar fundraising events.

One interesting tidbit emerging in these reports: That costly infomercial very well may have paid for itself. On October 29th and 30th, during the 48-hour period around its airing, the campaign reported having collected more than $1.2 million in checks of $1,000 or greater.

Posted at 5:15 PM ET on Nov 3, 2008