Obama camp says it raised $66 million in August

[MannyGoldstein]

Source: The NY Times

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama's campaign says the Democratic presidential candidate raised $66 million in August, making for another record fundraising month. That tops the record $55 million Obama raised last February.

Campaign spokesman Bill Burton also said Sunday that Obama reached the $66 million mark with help from contributions from 500,000 new donors.

Obama decided not to accept public financing for the rest of his campaign, opting to spend as much as he can raise.

Republican candidate John McCain has accepted public financing, which limits his direct spending to about $84 million.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Obama.html

---

Wasn't I just reading a few days ago that Obama was floundering on fundraising in August? Good-for-almost-nothing MSM making crap up again!

[firedupdem]

1. Exactly! Lies all the way around. They are doing it to dupe

voters into thinking we are losing and losing badly.

[kayell]

4. Lots of effort being made in that direction

Never underestimate what Rove and his operatives will be willing to do.

But I disagree with part of what you said. They'll try to dupe us. We need to ensure that it doesn't work.

[tanyev]

24. Yup, yup. They are inflating the estimates of crowd size at campaign appearances.

McCain-Palin Crowd-Size Estimates Not Backed by Officials

By Lorraine Woellert and Jeff Bliss

Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Senator John McCain has drawn some of the biggest crowds of his presidential campaign since adding Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to his ticket on Aug. 29. Now officials say they can't substantiate the figures McCain's aides are claiming.

McCain aide Kimmie Lipscomb told reporters on Sept. 10 that an outdoor rally in Fairfax City, Virginia, drew 23,000 people, attributing the crowd estimate to a fire marshal.

Fairfax City Fire Marshal Andrew Wilson said his office did not supply that number to the campaign and could not confirm it. Wilson, in an interview, said the fire department does not monitor attendance at outdoor events.

In recent days, journalists attending the rallies have been raising questions about the crowd estimates with the campaign. In a story on Sept. 11 about Palin's attraction for some Virginia women voters, Washington Post reporter Marc Fisher estimated the crowd to be 8,000, not the 23,000 cited by the campaign.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a1J0tfV3XJYs&refer=politics

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

33. 8K or 23K?

Li'l difference.

[jacobfloyd]

2. AWESOME!!

:)

[2CheeseEnchiladas]

3. Why don't the polls reflect this?

I mean, 500k new donors would equal 500k potential votes right? I don't get it.

[kayell]

5. Because polls can be biased. Polls can be manipulated. Note that some of the figures today

are from firms owned by hard-core Republicans or investment groups heavily into oil.

[Doctor_J]

7. Most people who show up on Obama's donor list probably won't be allowed to vote

My guess is that the GOP operatives are using the donor lists as purge lists. If you've donated to Obama, you might have a difficult time getting to vote in November

[kayell]

9. What You Can Do to Defend Election '08

What You Can Do to Defend Election '08
http://electiondefensealliance.org/what_you_can_do_defend_election_08

Sign up for Election Verification Polling (Citizen Exit Polls) in November
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/evp

Sign up with the I-Count Corps to handcount ballots
http://electiondefensealliance.org/count/signup.php

Download, read, and share the Blackboxvoting 2008 Citizens' Toolkit
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.html

Explore the links at the EDA Take Action page
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/takeaction

Write a Letter to the Editor (or your Representative)
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/let_people_count

Find and join a local election integrity group near you
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/Regional_EI_Dire ...

Join an EDA Working Group on a subject of your interest
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/workinggroups

Subscribe for E-mailed EDA Alerts and Announcements

Donate Financial Support
http://electiondefensealliance.org/Donate

Get involved in any of these EDA projects:

Investigating Election Fraud
The Arizona Transparency Project
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Commissioning Polls and Voter Surveys as Checks on Reported Election Results
Conducting Citizens' Election Verification Polls
Training Citizens in Hand-Counted Paper Ballot Elections (HCPB) via The I-Count Corps
Legal Initiatives such as the Save New York Levers Project
Legislative Analysis
Multipartisan Election Reform Advocacy
Election Integrity Broadcasts via California Public News Service
Education and Organizing at Saving America Vote by Vote Screenings
Podcasting on Election Defense Radio
Videocasting on EDA TV

[butterfly77]

13. Vote Everyone...

[JuniorPlankton]

8. Not necessarily

These could be the people who would have voted for Obama anyway, but got so pissed at McLame and his new disgusting sidekick, that they decided to donate on top of voting.

I heard that Obama campaign had their best ever day fundraising the day after Palin's convention speech. Talk about energizing the base!

[2CheeseEnchiladas]

10. You fucking nailed it

I was going to vote for Obama anyways. But because of McLies nasty campaigning I to decided to take out my anger with my wallet. This is the first time i have ever donated to a candidate btw.

[northernlights]

27. me too!

I never donated $$ to a campaign before. I was always too broke under rethuglican rule.

I'm still too broke, but desperate to see the rethugs out of power once and for all.

I had very little to give, so I deliberately waited until I felt it would have the most impact. I figured the 24 hours immediately following the rethug convention was the moment.

Their thankyou email said they got more new donors in that time frame than any other 24 hours in their campaign. So I figure my little bit helped them achieve that new high.

I plan to give another little bit later this month so hopefully Sept. will also beat August and really crank their mo.

[MrsCorleone]

28. Yep. I personally have been donating more.

[Tess49]

17. You have described me. I was damned pissed and donated

to Obama for the first time.

[glinda]

22. Financing

I had a thought today. The Republicans Convention as well as Palin are backed heavily by the NRA. Now I think they were the big backers of the convention. This link shows the US population as it grows and the number of people in the USA to the second. The NRA supposedly has only 4 million members of so. We can do it people.




http://www.census.gov/

[Fiendish Thingy]

11. There's no evidence that all the money came from "new" donors

In fact many of Obama's donors are repeat donors of small amounts, often under $100, nowhere near the $2300 limit.

[Jennicut]

20. Pollers do not usually call newly registered voters, they are not "reliable" yet

Lots of new voters out there and lots of young people voting for the first time. They are all undercounted in the polls.

[depakid]

29. Because it's not how much money you have- it's what you do with it

[Warren Stupidity]

6. Only 66? Fuck that. Donate!

We have to buy every second of airtime. They are getting most of theirs for free. Donate. Volunteer. Donate again. Please don't let the stupid defeat the good.

[debbierlus]

12. Actually, I think the reporting that Obama was financially floundering was a strategy

And, boy, did it work....

66 million dollars!!!

[4lbs]

14. Remember, the FEC funds didn't start for McCain until after the GOP convention.

That's when he officially accepted the nomination and the clock stopped on his ability to raise funds privately, and instead the $84 million in FEC funds were his working stash.

I'm not including the RNC funds or any external 3rd person 527s.

Obama is the same way, the $66 million for August was mostly before Barack accepted the Democratic nomination at the DNC Convention.

So, to vastly outdo McCain's $84 million in FEC taxpayer funds for September and October and make it useful, Barack will have to raise about $110 million in the six weeks starting Sep 1. That comes out to about $18 million per week or about $2.5 million per day. Breaking it down further comes to 25,000 people per day each donating about $100 on average.

[Warren Stupidity]

15. McCain is barred from using pre-convention funds post convention

So he had to spend his wad in august. Obama is not under those constraints and can and has carried his bankroll from the primaries with him into the general.

[morillon]

21. Didn't Obama raise something like $10M in one day the other week?

I think it may have been the day Palin spoke at the RNC. I've donated twice since she was announced, and I also sent some money to Defenders of Wildlife to help them get the aerial hunting ad out.

[llmart]

16. Vote it up on Yahoo.....

I donated in August. I would have voted for him anyway, but in this country money talks and we all have to do our part. Even if it's only $5. We can't afford not to.

I hope everyone on DU has at least given something. Let's do it again in September AND October. I intend to.

[progressivebydesign]

18. Now can we stop the concern posts about Obama?

WE're doing great!! Obama is not broke, not struggling, not fretting, not worrying, not considering a replacement of Biden, not tanking in the polls.

Let's all just smack down those conern posts immediately, or let them die on the vine.. and sink like stones on the forums. The repubs do this every election here on DU, their minions come here and post these OMG posts... and "I'm so worried" posts, like clockwork they arrive just about now!

Let's keep working and donating and believing. I mean.. isn't that what his campaign has been all about? Hope?

[MannyGoldstein]

23. I'm Still Concerened

That we're too concerned
:hi:

[ryanmuegge]

26. Yeah, why should we be concerned about losing consistently in nearly every poll?

After all, the polls are just the only metric we have.

[DeepModem Mom]

19. K&R

[ryanmuegge]

25. Until they start harshly attacking the McCain campaign, they don't dserve a dime.

And I'm not talking about making fun of him for not being able to use a goddamn computer, either.

We need to point out that Palin left her town in substantial debt, that McCain is a hilariously inconsistent flip-flopper, that Palin loves receiving earmark money, that Alaska charges for rape kits, we need to hammer McCain on his absenteeism and his voting record. We have to do something.

[Honeycombe8]

30. I'm one of those NEW contributors! Yaaaaaay! Gobama! Go get 'em! nt

[FailureToCommunicate]

31. $66 Million could do so much elsewhere...

We also are serial, but erratic, contibutors to Obama... depending on news, frustrations, e-mail cajoling, position of the stars...
BUT, every time I send in another chunk of money I wish that campaigns were not so expensive. That buying ad time from
networks that use the PUBLIC airwaves is so costly and shouldn't be!

I'm glad for Obama's campaign to have gotten $66 Million, but just think what all
that money could do to help hurricane victims, or earthquake relief or OXFAM or... instead of going into fat main stream media coffers!!

This is my first post, though I have been reading and taking solace from D.U. for awhile.
Thank you DU and all, for, well, being there!

[Imagevision]

32. Barack, please run ad listing McCain's bill's he voted against, (Iraq vet's especially)