I don't like the way fundraising numbers are reported in campaigns. This is because I believe the key stats are actually the primary cash on hand figure for each campaign minus debts, (the money you have now) along with the number of donors for each campaign (the money you can raise in the future). Those more salient statistics are often lost in the strange rush to report how much overall money it took in the day after fundraising quarters close. But anyway, here is the information we have so far:
Obamaraised between $19M-$20M for the primary, bringing his overall total for the primary to around $76.5M. He also broke Dean's record for campaign donors in a primary, although since a decent amount of that comes from people paying to get into campaign events, he is still well-off Dean's overall donation record. Clinton raised between $17M and $20M, according to the same TPM Election Central article linked above, putting her in a virtual tie with Obama. In terms of cash on hand, it looks like Obama will maintain a small edge. No word yet on how many donors Clinton has so far.
Edwardsraised $7M, and currently has $12M cash on hand. Including the $10M the campaign is expected to receive in public funds, the unlimited spending that can be made on field, and that Edwards so far has only spent $23K on paid media in Iowa, and he is clearly financially well-posited for the primaries. In fact, the Edwards campaign is still ahead of where Dean was at this point in 2003, and will probably complete non-field fundraising before Iowa given that he has an impressive 150,000 donors. All of this makes me wonder even more why he decided to opt into public financing. Some may argue it was principle, while others argue it was a short-term decision to achieve monetary parity in the primary season. While at one time I leaned toward the latter, after seeing this strong total I now lean toward the former. With $12M cash on hand, he certainly didn't need to opt in to win Iowa and New Hampshire. Whatever it is, it hurts his otherwise strong case for electability. Also, the Edwards campaign will use opting in to public funds as part of its campaign messaging and attacks against other candidates.
Richardsonraised a respectable $5.2M, and seems unlikely to opt into public financing. No word yet on other Democrats, or from most Republicans. One except is Fred Thompson, who only raised $8M, and McCain, who only raised $5M, but has $2M in debt. His cash on hand figure is probably very low right now.
I'll update this thread as more numbers become available.
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