I got this news via email from the Obama campaign:
Senator Barack Obama’s campaign announced today that more than half a million new donors contributed to the Obama campaign during the month of August, bringing the total raised for the month to over $66 million and the cash on hand to more than $77 million. More than 2.5 million people have contributed to the campaign.From the NY Times:
“John McCain says that he’ll take on the special interests and lobbyists, but McCain can’t fix a problem he’s been part of for three decades. The 500,000 new donors to the Obama campaign demonstrate just how strongly the American people are looking to kick the special interests out and change Washington. We are proud of the millions of volunteers and more than 2.5 million donors to the Obama campaign who are contributing to help us deliver the change we need instead of letting John McCain just continue the same failed Bush policies while middle class Americans struggle,” said David Plouffe, campaign manager of Obama for America.
While the figure is a considerable sum of money, it is a baseline for what Mr. Obama has to raise every month to meet his campaign’s goals. He is not taking public financing – an $84 million cash infusion from the United States Treasury – so his fund-raising burden is considerably higher than his Republican rivals.Various reports indicated McCain took in $47 million in August. McCain is now receiving public funding so his campaign committee cannot raise money. But, the RNC can - and is raising money for McCain with the help of George Bush (click photo for larger image):
