The Obama Fundraising Machine Flexes Its Muscles

Submitted by jmeasley on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 15:30.

The Obama campaign announced this morning that they raised $52 million in the month of June. This means that the Obama camp more than doubled McCain’s $22 million for the month.

The average amount contributed was only $68, which demonstrates the volume and size of the fundraising network. The bigger news is that the campaign also added $20.4 million to DNC coffers. This means that they raised over $72 million in the month of June, but Obama campaign manager David Plouffe did exaggerate a lot in an email to supporters priming the pump for more money though.

“But McCain and the RNC together still have a huge cash advantage, and we need your help to close the gap. As I mentioned in my video message to you earlier in the week, we're facing a Republican machine with unprecedented resources at its disposal. The McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee finished June with nearly $100 million in the bank,” the email said.

McCain and the RNC have $95 million in the bank, while Obama and the DNC have $93 million. The difference is the most of the GOP donations are going to the RNC, not McCain, while the Democratic donations are going to Obama, not the DNC. This was Obama’s second best fundraising month ever, behind the $55 million he raised in February, and I think that this is only the beginning.

McCain is locked into public financing, so look for most of the Republican donations to go the RNC, not McCain. You will probably continue to see RNC out raise the DNC, but Obama dominate McCain. It doesn’t mean anything. It is the way each campaign has structured their fundraising. Obama is the fundraising giant in this race, and it is a safe bet, that Democrats will easily have a double or triple advantage over Republicans this fall.

Plouffe email