CE Week #2: “Obama raises record funds”
Clinton has not reported amount donated in January
Letta Tayler
Newsday
February 1, 2008
LOS ANGELES – Barack Obama raised $32 million in campaign contributions in January, a record sum that will carry him well beyond next week’s Super Tuesday primaries in what is shaping into a protracted nomination battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Obama’s haul was the most raised by any candidate in one month in this presidential campaign. John Kerry raised more – $44 million – in March 2004, but he already had secured the nomination.
“For a candidate who had no guarantee of getting past Super Tuesday to have raised $32 million in a single month is astounding,” said Massie Ritsch, a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington nonprofit group that tracks money in politics. “It gives Obama tremendous firepower going into Super Tuesday and beyond.”
Obama and Clinton will compete in 22 states holding Democratic primaries or caucuses Tuesday, the largest number on one day in history.
With John Edwards out of the race, Clinton and Obama are in a race for delegates to secure the nomination. Feb. 5 offers the biggest single opportunity for delegates, but it can’t seal the nomination.
In an e-mail to supporters Wednesday evening, the Obama campaign said it had attracted 224,000 new donors in January for a total of more than 700,000 overall. The $32 million raised in one month matches the campaign’s best three-month fundraising period in 2007.
The funds will finance television and radio ads in 20 Super Tuesday states – nearly double the number airing Clinton spots – as well as in seven states holding primaries in mid-February, said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.
“Obviously this contest could go on for some time,” Plouffe said ” … We think we’re going to have the resources to conduct vigorous campaigns.”
The Clinton campaign has not released its January fundraising figure, raising assumptions that it hadn’t matched Obama. It sought to minimize Obama’s jackpot, saying votes and delegates matter most.
“We have all the resources we need to compete and win in this contest,” spokesman Blake Zeff said. He noted that polls show Clinton leading in most Super Tuesday states, especially those with many delegates.
But some polls show Obama narrowing the gap. His aides contend his main disadvantage is name recognition, which ads might help.
The funds Obama raised were just for primaries, meaning he could seek more money from his January donors for the general election. Much of Clinton’s campaign war chest can only be used for the November vote, increasing her need to find new donors, Ritsch said.
Obviously a close race
The race for the Democratic Presidential nomination is obviously very close between Clinton and Obama, but the gap between the two isn’t merely in public support, it is in the number of Super delegates claimed and in the amount of money raised by each campaign. Obama raised $32 million last month, and while the amount raised by Clinton is not general knowledge, most assume that since the numbers haven’t been released by her campaign they aren’t favorable compared to Obama’s history making sum. As the article points out, and like we have discussed in class, while Obama and Clinton both have sufficient money to continue their campaigns, Clinton’s donors have mostly maxed out the $2300 cap set for the primaries, while Obama continues to bring in new supports making smaller contributions. This means that when the two campaigns inevitably run short on funds, Clinton will need to seek out new supporters, while the Obama campaign merely needs to ask their established base for a little more money. Also, many of the states that will be involved in the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses aren’t winner-take-all. This means that since delegates are awarded based on percentages, both Clinton and Obama will receive many delegates from the same state, thus keeping the delegate count relatively even. That is until you factor in the Super Delegates who are rapidly lining up behind Clinton. All in all, there are many various factors influencing the race, and I for one am very interested to see who comes out on top.
Andrew Barnes
It’s good to see some of the other New York newspapers are getting the love, Kautzman. Barack Obama had two of the three m’s in momentum and media. Obama now has money according to this report. I am kind of skeptical that if you have more money than your opponent you are more likely to win. Look at Mitt Romney and all the money he has to spend on his campaign. Look at all the campaign contributions he has received. Romney should be winning the popular vote since he has the most money, but no so fast my friend. John McCain, with a lot less money, is ahead of Mitt Romney in the polls. I’m worried that somehow Hillary Clinton will win Super Tuesday even though Obama has had a late surge in contributions. Barack Obama has to use the contributions effectively in radio, tv, and press. I have seen some of Obama’s commercials on television because I receive some of the New York channels. The Barack Obama ad is nothing special. It simply attacks Hillary Clinton. What else is new? $32 million is a ton of money raised in just one month. I wonder how many minutes of a Super Bowl ad you could buy?
With such a close racing between Hilary Clinton and Obama, does money really make a big difference. Everyone knows the two names so name recognition is not a big deal. I am sure that Obama is getting plenty of ads out there if he was able to run a Super Bowl commercial. He is set financially. We all know that. But it is similar in a way to the 1896 election. Bryan went out and gave the speeches and got his name out there. He put in the time and money to get places and be heard. While McKinley sat back and ran a front porch election. He did not give 600 speeches and travel thousands of miles, but ended up winning the election. Clinton either has not been spending very much because she has faith that people understand her and her ideas and do not need to see her on tv running ads. Although I have to say, I was very upset when I turned on MTV over the snow day break and saw her talking. I turned to the channel because “Rob and Big” was scheduled to be on. Was it? No. Hilary was on a projector screen in the TRL studio. There were many teens in the audience, but sometimes I want to watch one of my favorite shows not Hilary on MTV! And of course after she was done, the episode had to be one I had already seen, so I was even more upset.
It is ridiculous how much money this candidates can raise in a year let alone a month. This relates to a few things we have talked about in class when it comes to PAC’s, matching funds, and maximum donations. First off its obvious that considering how much money Obama has raised and can raise he would not except matching funds from the government. For Obama to get 32 million dollars in one month alone means a lot of things. Besides the obvious benefits to his campaign it show how strong his supporters are. This is because there is a maximum amount ($23 00) can donate to a candidate and considering how low that number is and how much money he made there were a lot of new supporters he gained in January. Most of the money probably came from individuals but some is likely to come from PAC’s which find way to help him. All of this will be great for his campaign, especially this month for super Tuesday that just happened. Having the money to play commercial in the individual states and having more money to advertise other ways can only help him. All of this will end up being bad new for Clinton because that brings her more competition but also since she doesn’t have as much money coming from a lot of people she will need to seek new supporters when she runs out of money.
To answer Jarek’s question on if money can make a big difference. All I can say is have you not been listening in class. Money is one of the most important factors in a campaign. Without sufficient funds, a candidate would not be able to afford the travel expenses, which include food, a hotel, and staff or TV ads and radio spots to get their message out. I understand that Bryan McKinley got his name out by traveling place to place and talking to people, but that is impractical in today’s election with the amount of time that would take to reach as many people as TV and radio does. Candidates also need more money now, because that could be the difference between that last ad needed to put a bad mouthing commercial out about your rival candidate or enough money to fly to one last spot and meet with people in order to gain support. As the book states, and election takes money in order to make flyers and signs, hiring a staff, and expenses such as traveling and air time. For the more money you have, the more things a candidate can do in order to get more well known and gain support.
A Response to Andrew
The competition for the Democratic Presidential nomination is a VERY close race between Obama and Hilary. And I agree with Andrew that besides the fact the Obama is doing VERY well where raising money is concerned, it’s really going to come down to how the super delegates shake out between the two candidates. I also agree with Andrew that while Obama is publically announcing his success in raising funds, this could mean that the amount raised by Clinton is unknown because it is nowhere near that amount that Obama has come up with. Considering all the “cat fights” between the two, Clinton may have been smart to hold onto that information herself therefore not giving the Obama campaign anymore ammo! The article reported that “some polls show Obama narrowing the gap”. This could be the result of the all-powerful 3 M’s: media, momentum and at the present time, obviously MONEY! If Obama can keep it up and polls continue to turn in his favor, the super delegates could end up being a reward. With the constant drawing in of new supporters bringing funds with them, Obama is nearly unstoppable. Andrew mentioned that if the two campaigns ever run out of money, Barack would hardly have to break a sweat compared to what Hilary would have to come up with. I totally agree with that and it may also put Clinton further behind. (if we’re lucky!! )
Jarek, I think money does make a difference. Money is one of the most important factors in running for president of the United States besides momentum. As Mr. Curry put it, “Without sufficient funds, a candidate would not be able to afford the travel expenses, which include food, a hotel, and staff or TV ads and radio spots to get their message out.” I don’t think Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are going to be bumping rides from people in order to campaign. In addition, I recently read that Clinton recently lent her cash short campaign 5 million dollars. Why would she do that if money didn’t matter? Barack Obama is a genius for having a commercial played during the Super Bowl. This year’s super bowl between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots was the highest watched Super Bowl in the history of the NFL. According to Neilson-Media, only the final episode of Mash had a higher watched rating. Just think about how many people saw that ad on their television. It’s probably not going to convince everyone to vote for Obama, but I think it gets people interested in that particular candidate. In today’s society, most of the people get their opinions from what they see or hear on TV. You have to give Obama kudos on the Super Bowl ad because I don’t remember seeing a presidential campaign commercial ever during the Super Bowl.