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Where are Barack's Numbers?

By pharrell

We're two days into March, and the Obama campaign still hasn't released February fundraising totals. All they've said is that they're "significantly" ahead of Sen. Clinton's $35 million haul. There are two possible reasons for the radio silence--and either one of them makes me think that we won't get a number until after the primaries this Tuesday.

It could be that Obama's total isn't much higher than Sen. Clinton's, something in the $40 million range. Releasing a $40 million figure now would prompt a spate of articles about how Sen. Clinton had caught up in fundraising, hardly what his campaign wants to see right before a primary.

But the more likely explanation is that he raised a truly stupendous amount of money, $50 or $60 million. We've already begun to see stories about the fact that Obama is outspending Sen. Clinton in Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island. The last thing his campaign needs are pre-primary stories about his enormous fundraising advantage: they'd just provide fodder for Hillary's last-minute pleas to her supporters, and could raise questions about whether money is having too much influence on this primary campaign. My guess is that we'll get the numbers late Tuesday night or early Wednesday, just like Sen. Clinton's campaign released news of her January loan only after polls had closed on Super Tuesday (February 5).

Full post as published by Harrell Blog on March 02, 2008 (boomark / email).