Good news for Democrats; it seems the small dollar donor crowd is intensely focused on winning back the Presidency. Even with the organizing around FISA, Obama took in a remarkable money haul from small dollar and large dollar donors. I'd like to see the breakdown of large to small, but my guess is that most of the large dollar donations went to the DNC, which took in $22M and can legally accept donations about ten times the size of a Federal campaign.
It's hard to tell exactly what is going on without more data, but it seems clear that there was no concerted organized effort to withhold money from Obama. That's a very good thing, as he is far more preferable than McCain, which is what we have always been arguing.
I don't like the arguments from various pundits that such and such a move will hurt Obama's electoral chances. I don't know what will help and hurt his chances, I don't have the polling data, the time, or the responsibility to figure that out. Moreover, there are lots of ways to win the Presidency. Obama has chosen to do it by steamrolling over the civil liberties crowd, giving himself a bad few weeks of press, while also calling himself a progressive several times. That has more governance implications than electoral implications, or at least that's what it seems.
At any rate, the whining from DC pundits about how the left was undermining Obama's chances at winning was absolutely wrong. His small dollar donor army wants him in that White House, and they are going to pay to put him there. While it's often impossible for consultants in DC to keep multiple thoughts in their head, it is possible for most of us normal bluggers and blug readers to get that we don't like his vote on FISA but we want him to win the White House desperately anyway.
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