How has Kerry & Bush's fundraising been recently?

[Doosh]

I haven't hear much about both of them. Is anybody above/below expectations in May?

[ps1074]

1. Bush passed 200 million this week

No word of how Kerry is doing.

[mobuto]

2. I don't know about Kerry

but the Democratic National Committee has been utterly overwhelmed by the number of contributions it has received this month. That's no joke - it simply doesn't have the facilities to process the money that's flowing in and everything's coming to stop as it tries to scale up its processing power. In the past, everything was easier, because McAuliffe could afford to focus only on a few huge contributions. But because of McCain-Feingold, the Party has been forced to turn to small contributions from regular folks, and those are coming in at an absolutely stunning rate.

The DNC reported last week that it had $43 million in cash on hand, but those are three-week-old numbers and in reality it has considerably more. That doesn't lessen the gravity of the situation, and a lot more money is going to be needed before we can begin to challenge the GOP juggernaut, but things are still going good. As the Magistrate would say, "Lets get those Bush bastards!"

[vickie]

3. Re: DNC overwhelmed by small donors...

Mobuto:

This is great news, if true. How do we know this? (Not doubting you, just curious...)

Vickie

[mobuto]

4. Um

Here's the public press release if you want to read that:

May 10, 2004

DNC fundraising continues to break records
DNC cash-on-hand exceeds $42 million

Washington, D.C. - Fundraising for the Democratic National Committee continued to break records this month, with DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe announcing today an unprecedented cash-on-hand total of approximately $42 million. Though many predicted fundraising at the DNC to take a sharp dive after the passage of McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform and elimination of soft money, the DNC continues to set a record pace, overtaking the federal dollar fundraising totals of the same period (Jan.-Apr.) in 2000, by $35 million.

"The Democratic Party is in the best shape ever - we have $42 million in the bank, we have zero debt and we have the best resources available at our fingertips to reach and mobilize voters nationwide," DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe said today.

From January through April 2004, the DNC raised more than $25 million - three times the amount raised during the same period in 2000 - in "direct response" marketing, i.e. direct mail, telemarketing, door-to-door canvassing and Internet fundraising.

"In the first four months of 2004, the DNC sent out 35 million pieces of direct mail to prospective new donors - that's more mail pieces dropped than the entire decade of the 1990s," Chairman McAuliffe announced. "The DNC's investment in a technology overhaul and our aggressive, grassroots push to reach out to new, small donors has paid off. Even with 35 million pieces of mail out the door, we still have $42 million cash-on-hand."

In 2001, the DNC had only 70,000 email addresses, only 400,000 direct mail donors and no national voter file. Now, the DNC boasts over 3 million email addresses, with the list growing each day; over 1.2 million direct mail donors - three times as many as in 2001; and a data-rich 166 million record voter file for voter registration, organizing and donor recruitment.

"This is not your grandfather's DNC," Chairman McAuliffe said. "We're smarter, more effective and more efficient than ever before. With $42 million in the bank, the proof is in the pudding."

http://www.democrats.org/news/200405100003.html

I won't comment further on the rest of my post: make of it what you will.

[Mz Pip]

5. The CNN crawl

yesterday reported that Bush had raised 203 million, Kerry had raised 110 million.

I don't know if that included the 60 million Bush has already spent bashing Kerry, but I would think so.

There are a couple of big 527s like MoveOn. The Repugs have those, too.

MzPip
:dem: