JUST IN: Obama raised $52 million in June
Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:39am EDT
By Deborah Charles
reuters.com
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised $52 million in June, his campaign said on Thursday, a jump from last month and more than double the $22 million raised by his Republican rival John McCain.
In an e-mail to supporters, campaign manager David Plouffe said the Obama campaign raised the funds with an average donation of $68. The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee have a combined total of $72 million in the bank, Plouffe said.
"But more impressive than the number is how you did it," Plouffe wrote. "Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people contributed to building our campaign for change. Many were first-time donors, giving only what they could afford -- and the average donation was just $68."
The June figure was just shy of the Illinois senator' best fundraising month in February when he took in $55 million. His fundraising slowed to $21.9 million in May, down from just over $30 million in April.
McCain's $22 million figure in June represented his best month of fundraising and his campaign has voiced confidence he can compete financially with Obama.
By the end of June, the Republican National Committee had nearly $68 million in the bank to help support the Arizona senator in the final push to the November 4 presidential election against Obama.
In contrast, the Democratic National Committee had just $4 million in the bank.
Plouffe said that McCain and the Republican National Committee still have a huge cash advantage, with nearly $100 million in the bank at the end of June.
"We have developed a strategy -- a very aggressive strategy -- that will only work if our millions of supporters continue to contribute their time and their money," Plouffe wrote.
Some political analysts had questioned whether Obama's fundraising ability had ebbed, since his monthly numbers had been dropping.
But last week a top aide refuted a Wall Street Journal article that quoted people close to the Obama campaign as saying his total contributions in June would likely be just over $30 million.
Obama has smashed all records for fundraising during the presidential campaign, partly because of his success in using the Internet to bring in contributions from small donors.
He has said he would bypass the public financing system, rejecting $84 million in public funds and the accompanying limits on spending.
(Editing by Vicki Allen)
(For more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/) |
