How is Obama rasing so much?

As Leslie Wayne of the New York Times puts it, “politics this year has reached the size of an economic stimulus package.” That is in fact the truth; it is the most expensive campaign in history costing a total about $2.4 billion dollars. The 2008 presidential campaign is also the first time that the candidates have raised over a billion dollars combined, and the number is now reaching $1.5 billion. We are currently seeing this new record breaking fundraising across all campaigns, for example, 2.9 billion dollars has been spent on congressional races this season.

One of the most important aspects of this election is that the Obama campaign has been outspending the McCain campaign on television by three-and-a-half-to-one, even with spending by the R.N.C. factored in, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group. So how can a candidate who had so few connections to wealth prior to his bid raise this enormous sum of money? There are many factors contributing to his ability to raise this record-breaking sum of money. First of all, he has an email list of 9 million people, who he contacts on a daily basis. Obama has made it exceedingly easy for these contacts to contribute to the campaign anywhere at anytime and they are constantly reminded to do so. This incredibly effective strategy was one developed by Democratic National Committee head Howard Dean. Secondly, vice presidential nominee Joe Biden has numerous ties to the trial law community, many of whom are very wealthy and had not donated to the Obama campaign prior to Biden’s nudge. Then in September Obama launched an even more aggressive campaign aimed at fundraising through events. This was one of the many reasons he was able to raise $150 million in one month. That is three times more than any candidate in history has ever raised in a month. In fact, a matter of just hours, the democratic nominee raised 9 million at a Barbra Streisand concert. Notably, another important source of donors came from the connections of Warren Buffet and Caroline Kennedy, who both reached out to their contacts in hopes of raising Obama a large sum on money.



The Obama campaign has also been extremely successful in attracting small donations. In total Obama has 3.1 million donors, and his small donors have donated around half of his total funding. The campaign has been powered in large part by these small-dollar contributions, with donations of $200 or less accounting for more than 220 million dollars.

Finally, Obama has been amazingly successful since he decided against accepting public funding in June 2008. Though Obama broke his original promise to accept public funding, as a result of this decision to accept private funding, Obama is now able to raise much more money than McCain ever will be. Before, when both candidates were both planning on accepting public financing, money was not a potentially decisive factor in the election, though it is now. See how McCain feels about Obama’s fundraising tactics:



In this clip, by saying that Obama’s strategy is likely to create scandal, McCain is implicitly saying that Obama is raising his money illegally. By doing this McCain will evoke fears of Obama being dishonest in voters, and therefore earn some voters' trust and support. This is one of the ways that McCain’s is responding to Obama’s incredible talent in fundraising.


For further reading:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/us/politics/06donate.html
http://www.newsweek.com/id/162403
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/obama-finance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/25/AR2008102502302.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/20/AR2008102002603.html?sub=AR
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/campaign-08-most-expensive-ever/?scp=2&sq=campaign%20spending&st=cse