Where Did Obama's Campaign Money Really Come From?

[howeird]

Things that make me go "Hmmmmm". In both the Democratic and Republican nomination races, we have seen popular, initially well-funded, well-known and qualified candidates bow out because not enough cash was coming in for them to continue to fund their campaigns. We are now down to three candidates (one of whom doesn't really have to spend another cent) who have survived this far.

McCain has deep pockets, and his war hero, "stay the course" message won him the votes he needed early.
Clinton has a lot of corporate and labor backing, and a significant chunk of her own money.
Obama is, uh, WTF?

Where did he really get his money? According to the International Herald Tribune, as of last month he has brought in $225 million. If you believe it was all from individuals emptying their piggy banks to send their pennies, or even Internet contributions (most, according to his campaign office, have been less than $100 each), I'd like some of what you're smoking. A year ago, before anyone even knew who he was, MSNBC says he already had $25 million in his coffers. How?

I'm not accusing him of doing anything wrong or illegal or immoral or fattening. I'm just saying that the amount of money he has raised is far too much to be attributed to individual contributors acting alone. I'm guessing there are a lot of high rollers betting on this horse, and it puzzles me.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't cry crocodile tears if he became the nominee, and I'd probably even vote for him for President. But I do think it's worth considering whether he's as un-beholding as he makes out to be.

Comments

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

Well, he does have over 1.5 Million contributers. We don't all have to be big money bags. He even at one point had a Have Lunch with Me fund raiser, the trick? You had to be one of the small donaters.
So yeah, he has been getting lots of small amounts too.

[howeird]

Most of those 1.5 million, if you believe those numbers (which I do not) don't contribute near enough to add up to $225 million. We don't all have to be moneybags, but for that kind of war chest, there have to be several who are. Even at $100 each, 1.5 million people only comes to $150 million. The "missing" $75 million is enough to fund a campaign by itself.

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

30 seconds on google...
opensecrets.org (http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/summary.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638)


Cash on Hand: $51,073,999
Debts: $662,784
Date of last report: Mar 31 2008 12:00AM

Source of Funds
Individual contributions $233,823,614 100%
PAC contributions $250 0%
Candidate self-financing $0 0%
Federal Funds $0 0%
Other $921,217 0%

How complete are this candidate's campaign finance reports?
Full Disclosure $136,307,109 (93.8%)
Incomplete $0
No Disclosure $9,071,257 (6.2%)

Donor Demographics
Overview
Percent of Funds Number of Contributors Total Amount
Female 41.6% 49346 $49,752,367
Male 58.4% 66326 $69,769,599

Contribution Details
$200-$499 $500-$999 $1000-$2300 $2300+ $4600+
# Donors Total # Donors Total # Donors Total # Donors Total # Donors Total
Female 17677 $4,558,550 11391 $6,366,502 10449 $13,882,194 9535 $25,010,232 864 $4,108,103
Male 22301 $5,741,477 15044 $8,384,252 14738 $19,124,896 13879 $36,632,189 1428 $6,805,529


I trust OpenSecrets.org, as they are decidedly not partisan, and it's worth noting that Obama's level of disclosure is better than either Clinton's or McCain's.

Broken down by state

[cmdrsuzdal.livejournal.com]

Federal Election Comission