Republicans Log 1 Million New Donors
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:35 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican Party has reached a milestone in its record fund raising: 1 million new donors since President Bush took office.
In all, since President Bush took office in January 2001, 1,305,000 people have donated to the Republican National Committee for the first time, spokeswoman Christine Iverson said Wednesday.
That beats the party's previous record of 853,595 first-time donors during President Reagan's eight years in office in the 1980s. New contributors then were reached mostly through direct mail and phone banks, Iverson said.
The average contribution of the new RNC donors so far during Bush's tenure is $29.80, Iverson said. The party reached out to the contributors through a combination of mail, phones and the Internet, she said.
``These are people who have never been involved in the political process before,'' Iverson said. ``These are not wealthy people. These are people whose average contribution is less than $30.''
Such new contributors, many of them giving modest amounts, are a key part of the parties' efforts to adapt to the new campaign finance law banning corporate, union and unlimited donations that took effect last November.
The contributions come from 33,158 zip codes and all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and four territories including American Samoa, Iverson said.
Democrats, too, have been aggressively trying to attract new contributors but have a long way to go to catch up with Republicans in fund raising.
From January through August, the most recent totals available, the RNC raised $69.5 million, compared to about $26.3 million for the DNC.
In addition to the new small-dollar donors, the RNC has also raised record amounts at big fund-raisers headlined by Bush. It will likely raise millions at a gala next week featuring the president.
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