Guess how much Obama raised in September

[The Ex-Factor]

Well, when they said it was "big", they weren't kidding. I heard that there was an email sent out by David Plouffe to supporters detailing their latest totals, and this induced me to actually check the endless emails the campaign keeps sending me.

Anyway, he makes you watch his video to tell you the totals (which are being released tomorrow, it's a sneaky way to get you to the donation page):
https://donate.barackobama.com/septembernumbers

That's right.

$150 million.

[wildfood]

That's just crazy.

[Tender Branson]

Amazing !

Waiting for JJ, StatesRights and others to come in and declare: "They just give him their money, but they will NEVER vote for him ..."

[Politico]

It's over, folks.

I stress once again, the Obama/Biden campaign has so much money that after they maximize every avenue of advertising in the so-called "battleground states," they will STILL have millions and millions left to spend in the closing week. That money, millions and millions of left over funds, will be put towards towards the only place left to spend it: States that are > 10% for McCain right now (i.e., ND, MT, AR, LA, MS, GA, SC, etc.). I find it hard to believe that those millions and millions, when people are most paying attention, will not produce unexpected EVs for Obama. Think of it like a football team that RUNS UP the score on a hapless and defeated opponent late in the fourth quarter, adding a couple more TDs at the end of the game because it makes the victory all the more convincing.

The bottom-line: The Electoral College will look like a REAL mandate for change, the likes of which we have not seen since the 1980s. Obama will be able to declare there are no red states or blue states - only THE UNITED STATES.

[Eleanor Martins]

I'm surprised JJ kept riffing on the lateness of this release, evidently the campaign wanted to win a news cycle as close to the election as possible rather than amplify by just a little the building lead he had at the start of this month.

[Iosif]

LOL J. J.

[ChrisFromNJ]

J.J = FAIL

[Tender Branson]

Additional nugget for JJ:

The DNC raised 42.32 Mio. $ in September and spent 37.2 Mio.

They started Oct. with 22.86 Mio. cash-on-hand.

http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00010603/371642

[cp]

Not that I condone the ad hominem attacks, but exactly what did this 'J.J' person say that makes Obama's fund raising numbers a 'fail' for him?

[Tender Branson]

Not that I condone the ad hominem attacks, but exactly what did this 'J.J' person say that makes Obama's fund raising numbers a 'fail' for him?

He thought that the 66 Mio. raised by the RNC+McCain was the top of the sky and now reality strikes like a rock, with Obama and the DNC raising 3-times the money of the RNC+McCain (who's getting socialist campaign welfare from the state).

[Sbane]

J.J = FAIL

[Kalimantan]

I just don't know how Obama is going to compete with the RNC with this paltry sum. Its clear he should have taken public financing and instead he made a major error. No wonder he waited so long to declare it.



16 days to go...

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Soon Obama can fund his own bailout bill. 

[Kalimantan]

Soon Obama can fund his own bailout bill. 

Fair point actually - in that he will surely raise more money than he can spend. What will he do with it - what is he allowed to do with it?

[J. J.]

Not that I condone the ad hominem attacks, but exactly what did this 'J.J' person say that makes Obama's fund raising numbers a 'fail' for him?

He thought that the 66 Mio. raised by the RNC+McCain was the top of the sky and now reality strikes like a rock, with Obama and the DNC raising 3-times the money of the RNC+McCain (who's getting socialist campaign welfare from the state).

No, actually, I was surprised when Obama didn't announce it. after the RNC did.  If good, I would have expected it to be announced early.

[Zarn]

Maybe people will get sick of hearing Obama. I remember that his poll numbers were up slightly, when he was on vacation. Am I remembering that correctly?

[J. J.]

I just cannot figure out why they didn't announce it in early October.

[Wall St. Wiz]

One good thing about Obama raising this kind of money is that he has completely destroyed the system of public financing for elections.  No candidate will put themselves at this kind of disadvantage again.

Also, $150 million isn't bad for the worst economy since the great depression.

[Iosif]

He clearly delayed the announcment as long as possible to keep the donations coming in during October. It's very difficult asking people for money when you've just declared you've raised $150m.

[Tender Branson]

The Politico reports the following:

"Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Karen Finney, meanwhile, emails that the committee raised $49.9 million for the month, leaving it with $27.4 million on hand as of the beginning of October."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/A_huge_September_150_million_for_Obama.html

But why did they file 42.3 Mio. with the FEC ?

http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00010603/371642/

[J. J.]

Here are the numbers:



Roughtly, this is how the campaigns started on 9/1/08:

RNC:                     $113,000,000

80% McCain:           $90,000,000

McCain FEC:             $84,000,000

Total:                      $174,000,000

Obama/DNC:             $85,000,000

Difference:               $89,000,000

The RNC raised 9/08: $66,000,000

80% McCain:              $52,800, 000

Total, less spending:  $221,800,000

Obama:                      $150,000,000

DNC:                            $42,000,000

80% Obama:                $33,600,000

Total, less spending:  $183,800,000

Total, less spending:  $85,000,000 + $183,800,000 = 268,000,000


Now, I've underestimated McCain's total because $20-$40 M was transferred to other committees and overestimated the the DNC start by about $2 M.

He has parity, but I still can't figure out why Obama didn't announce it earlier.  A Sunday morning with Powell's endorsement isn't exactly good timing.

[Meeker]

He has parity, but I still can't figure out why Obama didn't announce it earlier.  A Sunday morning with Powell's endorsement isn't exactly good timing.

J.J., perhaps - perhaps - the people running the Obama campaign are smarter than you when it comes to stuff like this. I know none of them are in MENSA, but they've proven themselves to be pretty capable thus far.

[Kalimantan]

I still can't figure out why Obama didn't announce it earlier.  A Sunday morning with Powell's endorsement isn't exactly good timing.

This is the answer:

He clearly delayed the announcment as long as possible to keep the donations coming in during October. It's very difficult asking people for money when you've just declared you've raised $150m.

...I was surprised ...

Again. Which is not surprising

[J. J.]

He has parity, but I still can't figure out why Obama didn't announce it earlier.  A Sunday morning with Powell's endorsement isn't exactly good timing.

J.J., perhaps - perhaps - the people running the Obama campaign are smarter than you when it comes to stuff like this. I know none of them are in MENSA, but they've proven themselves to be pretty capable thus far.

An absolutely great Obama story gets released on a Sunday morning, where it's completely hidden by the Powell story.  The roll out of Biden wasn't handled well, if you recall.  This would have had so much more impact if it was released on Thursday or Friday, not to mention 2 weeks ago.

[Bacon King]

He has parity, but I still can't figure out why Obama didn't announce it earlier.  A Sunday morning with Powell's endorsement isn't exactly good timing.

J.J., perhaps - perhaps - the people running the Obama campaign are smarter than you when it comes to stuff like this. I know none of them are in MENSA, but they've proven themselves to be pretty capable thus far.

An absolutely great Obama story gets released on a Sunday morning, where it's completely hidden by the Powell story.  The roll out of Biden wasn't handled well, if you recall.  This would have had so much more impact if it was released on Thursday or Friday, not to mention 2 weeks ago.

I agree today wasn't a good day to release it, but this was such positive news that I guess it doesn't matter that much. It should have been held until tomorrow, to monday, the start of the news week. It actually appears they are "officially" releasing it tomorrow:

which are being released tomorrow

BTW, two weeks ago would have been an awful time to release because it would have hampered this month's donations, and thursday/friday are both bad days to release positive news. It quickly gets buried in the weekend. I don't understand the strategy you talk about here as monday definitely would be the best day to release.