much money as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton this year, bringing in $25 million
for his presidential bid from a wide array of contributors, shakes up the race
and makes it clear no Democrat will enjoy the early dominance the former first
lady had been trying to establish.
Clinton, who raised $26 million in January, February and March, may now
have to re-examine her strategy for fundraising and otherwise building
support, which had been based on the idea that she was the overwhelming
favorite for the Democratic nomination. Obama’s fundraising has largely
dispelled that notion, showing his ability to appeal to a large number of
donors, who in many cases made small contributions online.
Now that Clinton, Obama and other top candidates have demonstrated that
they can raise the millions needed to run a national campaign, it also may
allow another important contest to begin. That’s a contest of ideas and
personality, something no campaign treasury, no matter how vast, can buy.
The Clinton campaign had been bracing for the Illinois senator’s
fundraising news for weeks, building expectations that he would put together
an impressive total. And if her operatives ever expected to outmuscle their
opponents with money and organization, they now say they understand that
winning the nomination is likely to take time, sweat and patience.
“Anyone who can put together $25 million in a quarter comes off as a very
serious and credible candidate,” said Chris Lehane, who was the spokesman for
Vice President Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000. “Enough people have
been around the block in the Clinton world that they understand this is a
marathon, not a sprint.”
Clinton’s campaign said it is on pace with its goals and has no plans to
make adjustments, despite raising only slightly more than Obama.
“We are thrilled with our historic fundraising success and congratulate
Sen. Obama and the entire Democratic field on their fundraising, which
demonstrates the overwhelming desire for change in our country,” Clinton
campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle said.
Had the New York senator been able to raise far more than her competitors,
it might have helped her build the kind of inevitability enjoyed in 1999 by
then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush, whose fundraising dominance helped drive
challengers from the contest and secure the Republican nomination.
More Obama donors
Obama, who reported nearly twice as many donors as Clinton, may have raised
more for the primary campaign than Clinton, although that cannot be
definitively known because her campaign has refused to say how much of its
total is designated for the primary campaign and how much would be used for a
possible general election bid.
“It’s stunning,” said Lou Susman, a Chicago investment banker who worked as
Sen. John Kerry’s national finance chairman and now is a senior Obama adviser.
“Under any set of circumstances, we outraised her for the primary.”
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Outsiders said they, too, were impressed by Obama’s total.
“Sen. Obama stood toe-to-toe with Sen. Clinton and showed he had a broad
fundraising base,” said Anthony Corrado, a professor of government at Colby
College in Maine who specializes in campaign finance.
Obama raised $6.9 million — more than a quarter of his total — over the
Internet from more than 50,000 donors, a base of supporters his campaign
hopes to cultivate into regular givers. His campaign said 90 percent of the
online contributions were for $100 or less.
All of the campaigns are aggressively courting online donors, partly
because they contribute more efficiently to a campaign’s bottom line, without
the cost of holding fundraising events or even postage.
Joe Trippi, who managed Howard Dean’s Democratic presidential campaign in
2004, said the number of donors a candidate attracts can be an important gauge
of future fundraising potential. “If you have the same amount of money, but
more donors, fewer of them have maxed out,” he said.
Campaign finance law sets a maximum individual contribution of $2,300 to a
candidate for the primary season and another $2,300 for the general election.
Trippi said the fundraising totals showed all of the major Democratic
candidates showed sufficient strength to power their campaigns forward and
cautioned against reading too much into the precise rankings of their totals.
“John Kerry did not come in first in the first quarter last time, and Dean
came in last,” Trippi said. “People who have raised the most or second-most
before have faltered.”
Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards led Democratic primary candidates
in fundraising during the first quarter of 2003. This year, he reported
raising $14 million, the third-highest total among Democrats. Clinton also
said she plans to add $10 million from her Senate campaign fund, bringing her
presidential total to $36 million.
Overall, Obama received contributions from more than 100,000 individuals,
his campaign said. Clinton received donations from about 50,000 people, while
Edwards took in money from about 37,000 donors.
“A lot of the media has been focusing on the fact that we raised a lot of
money in this campaign, and they’re stunned,” Obama said Wednesday evening in
Mason City, Iowa, according to the Radio Iowa network.
His campaign said that at least $23.5 million of its first-quarter
collection would be available for the primary campaign, an important
distinction because candidates are able to raise money now for both the
primary and general elections.
The Edwards camp has said less than $1 million of his tally is designated
for the general election.
A relative newcomer to national politics, Obama held dozens of fundraisers
across the country, including at least three that brought in more than $1
million each. Some of the events drew top names from Hollywood and Wall
Street.
Obama’s fundraising prowess means he and the other candidates will likely
face a long, hard slog through the next year.
Super Tuesday challenge
“It shows that Obama will be able to compete with her financially through
Super Tuesday,” said Scott Reed, who was the campaign manager for Bob Dole’s
1996 presidential campaign.
Reed was talking about next Feb. 5, when more than 20 states will hold
primaries. Candidates will need millions of dollars to pay for saturation
television advertising, the costliest part of running a presidential campaign.
“With all of these states moving up and the ability to do sustained media
buys in states not used to retail politics, you probably can’t have too much
money,” said Joe Lockhart, the White House press secretary to President Bill
Clinton.
Many political strategists believe the leading candidates will raise at
least $100 million by the end of the year. Obama’s total helped boost the
collective sum for the Democrats, with the Republicans raising only about
two-thirds as much.
For presidential candidates, the ability to raise money is a threshold
issue, giving leading contenders credibility and a platform from which to try
to spread their message. For example, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney
bought himself a second look from the voters and the media after announcing
this week that he had raised $21 million for his Republican nomination
campaign, even though he is in single digits in the polls. He is running
television ads in Iowa and New Hampshire for the second time in two months.
The campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), meanwhile, acknowledged
disappointment this week when it reported raising $12.5 million. New York
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani reported raising $15 million.
For Obama, the next question will be whether he can raise his standings in
the polls and maintain his support.
“Obama has obviously excited the traditional Democratic base, and we’re
seeing that in his money,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the
Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “But so did Howard Dean.”
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