Obama’s campaign fundraising way ahead of any GOP candidate
This article is re-posted from Open Secrets.
President Barack Obama continues to be a fund-raising juggernaut, practically exceeding the fund-raising total of the entire GOP field combined. During the third quarter, Obama raised $70.1 million, his campaign announced today. That sum includes $42.8 million that went directly into his own campaign war chest and $27.3 million raised for the Democratic National Committee.
By contrast, none of his GOP rivals are on the same level. No GOP contender cracked $20 million during the third quarter, and only two cracked the $10 million mark.
The campaign of Texas Gov. Rick Perry has said Perry raised about $18 million during the third quarter. Meanwhile, the campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has said Romney raised about $14 million and the campaign of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) has said Paul raised about $8 million.
Obama’s massive third-quarter haul brings his campaign’s cycle-to-date fund-raising total to about $91.5 million, not including the large sums he’s helped the DNC raise. That amount nearly matches the sum he had raised by the same point in time four years ago, as he battled for the Democratic Party nomination against political heavy weights including Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.
As of Sept. 30, 2007, Obama had raised $106 million, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics. That’s only about 16 percent more than he raised through the third quarter. And this time around, Obama will not face a contentious primary fight.
Here’s a chart comparison the Obama campaign’s quarter-by-quarter fund-raising during his two presidential runs:
In 2008, Obama became the first major party nominee to opt against participating in the federal public financing program — a move that allowed him to shatter fund-raising records and ultimately collect nearly $750 million. Obama is again unlikely to participate in the system again this election cycle.
According to his campaign, more than 606,000 individuals donated to Obama during the third quarter and the average amount of a donation was $56. During the second quarter, about 47 percent of the money Obama raised came from small-dollar donors who gave $200 or less, as OpenSecrets Blog previously reported. An official figure for such small-dollar donors during the third quarter will not be available until the campaign files its paperwork with the Federal Election Commission — paperwork which is due by midnight Saturday.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 
Obama in the 2008 primary attacked Clinton for her walmart connections. He fooled all of us into believing he wasn’t some corporate whore, like the rest. People put their lifes on hold to campaign for him. Obama has betrayed us. Vote third party.
His environmental policies are republican, so are his military policies.
Robert, I tend to think that Obama’s policies are not Republican, just political. I wonder if any of his supporters can find the two-party system credible any longer. Obama raised such hopes and expectations of someone different with something different to bring to the table: immigrant amnesty, universal health care coverage, the end of our illegitimate wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the closing of Gitmo, etc.
Look where we are now. We don’t have universal health care–we have concessions that are mainly in the hands of the insurance industry to control, like the foxes in charge of the henhouse. We don’t have amnesty, but more deported immigrants than ever. We don’t have two illegitimate wars, we now have three. And Gitmo is still open.
Obama, just like any Republican, is owned by the people from whom he took money. That’s who our politicians are representing–not us. Doesn’t matter what label they wear.
I think you could make a good argument that both parties are the same when it comes to the military. I think Zinn called it the liberal/conservative coalition.
I think when it comes to environmental controls most democrats offer us more. Obama however is not. Allowing drilling the in the arctic when no technology exists to remove oil from icy waters is unacceptable.