Sen. Barack Obama's campaign claims that Obama brought in 75,000 new donors during the third quarter -- nearly matching the total of the entire Republican presidential field in the first six months of this year.
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Presidential hopeful Barack Obama is expected to raise more money than his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the third quarter of this year – but the totals for both will be sharply down from the second quarter.
An Obama spokesperson said he would raise between $18 million and $19 million during the July-September reporting period, but another source close to the Illinois Senator reportedly disclosed that the figure would be closer to $22-24 million.
His campaign claims that Obama brought in 75,000 new donors during the period, nearly matching the total of the entire Republican presidential field in the first six months of this year.
Clinton will take in between $17 million and $19 million in the third quarter, according to Newsday.
Those figures are down from the $32.8 million raised by Obama and $27 million raised by Clinton in the second quarter. Both candidates raised around $25 million in the first quarter.
Obama’s fundraising success is being fueled to a large extent by his success in bringing in contributions from small donors. Obama raised $16.4 million in the first six months of 2007 from donors who gave less than $200, while Hillary raised $4 million from those contributors, and Democrat John Edwards raised $5 million, according to The Politico.
But Obama also outpaced Clinton among donors who gave more than $200 – he reported 55,755 such donors in the first six months of his year, compared to Hillary’s 36,307 donors.
In another troubling sign for the Clinton campaign, a new report indicates Hillary could perform so poorly in the 2008 general election that she could actually drag down other Democratic candidates.
A survey by Democratic pollsters Lake Research found that Clinton – as well as Obama – trailed Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani in 31 swing congressional districts.
The poll results – leaked to the Washington Post – show Giuliani leading Clinton by a margin of 49 percent to 39 percent in those districts. Giuliani’s lead over Obama is just 1 percent.
“The poll found that Mrs. Clinton, in particular, could damage the chances of congressional Democratic candidates on the ballot,” The Telegraph in Britain reported.
GOP pollster Frank Luntz said: “This poll reveals what grassroots Democrats have been concerned about. Hillary is their choice ideologically but not necessarily politically and they’re afraid she could lose.
“Rudy does better among independents than Hillary does and in the end the candidate that gets the majority of independents wins the election.”
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