It appears that Obama raised the most amount of money of any candidate running for office, ever. An article on Politico today shows some figures that assess the gross funds that Obama was able to raise, and also how he was able to do so. It seems that funds raisers, the people that contributed to the campaign from their own pocket, were determined not to let Obama's hopes die. The article points out that Obama's estimated $750 million raised over the course of the last two years was more than the combined raised sum by Bush in 2004 and his rival John Kerry. The article also points out the uncanny ability for the Obama camp to raise money without even asking for it. They reportedly raised nearly $10 million the night of the Republican National Convention, between the back-to-back speeches of John McCain and Sarah Palin.
No doubt this money was able to be raised because of the internet. The use of the Obama website, allowed numerous donations to be make without even asking for it. This is evidenced in the fact that early in 2007 when Obama was first thinking abot running for office, he had about 20,000 people on his mailing list. He now has 10 million. And of these 10 million names, nearly one half of them turned into donors, some more than once.
The increased use of the internet allowed for fundraising records to be set in the 2008 election. The electronic age has ushered in an easy of operations that will surely be copied and studied in years and elections to come.
2 comments:
It's impressive how much Obama excelled throughout the campaign, just comparing his successes to Bush and John Kerry, it's pretty surprising. I can't imagine how he will put his abilities that make him outstanding compared to other presidents into his presidency.
Keep in mind he was able to do so because he did not accept the 86 Million dollars from the federal government to fund his campaign. A smart move on his part if I may say so.
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