Legal Commentary

Obama Raises 52 Million In June

By Big Tent Democrat

A good fundraising month for Obama:

Senator Barack Obama raised $52 million in June, his campaign announced on Thursday morning, more than twice the amount he raised one month earlier before claiming the Democratic presidential nomination.

. . . Last week, Senator John McCain announced that he had raised $22 million in June, which was the best fund-raising month of his campaign. So while Mr. Obama’s $52 million haul is significantly higher, he also faces a bigger fund-raising burden because of his decision to not accept public financing. . . . . [Obama] . . . has set a goal of raising $200 to $300 million for their general election effort.

More . . .

Right now Obama has 72 million dollars on hand. The DNC does not seem to have much money, though it did raise 22 million in June and now has 20 million in cash on hand, so Obama will need to at least keep up this fundraising pace (more likely exceed it) as the McCain camp and the RNC combined have around 100 million dollars on hand compared to 90 million for Obama/DNC. In terms of the general election spending, which does not formally commence until after the Conventions, McCain has opted into the public finance system which provides him 85 million dollars for the 2 months after the Convention (on top of the RNC spending). For opting out of public finance to make sense for Obama, he'll need to do better than 52 million as he is soaking up money that could have gone to the DNC.

By Big Tent Democrat

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 17, 2008 (boomark / email).