by Mike Dorning
In a preview of Barack Obama’s fundraising performance and a last-minute effort to rev up contributions during the final week of the third-quarter fundraising period, the Illinois senator is claiming his presidential campaign has added some 75,000 donors since the end of the last financial reporting period for candidates on June 30.
In an e-mail to supporters today, Obama claims 333,851 people have now donated to his campaign since its inception, for a total of 472,613 donations. The campaign is trying to motivate supporters to break a goal of 350,000 donors providing more than 500,000 contributions by Sept. 30.
“We’re facing a hard deadline in less than a week,” Obama writes. “The financial reports filed after September 30th will set the tone for the last 100 days before people start voting and caucusing. The numbers will be a signal to voters in the crucial early states that our movement has the support it takes to win.”
The campaign is also trying to motivate new donors with a promotional program in which established donors are offering to match contributions from new donors.