How ’bout that. Team Obama set a goal of raising $60 million for their campaign last quarter, but they actually raised $47 million. That’s what, about 25% off target? National Journal’s Reid Wilson is giddy nevertheless.
President Obama‘s campaign will report raising a staggering $47 million in the past three months, his campaign manager said in a web video released early Wednesday morning.
That amount dwarfs the money raised in the last three months by the entire Republican field, underscoring just how great an advantage the incumbent will have over the eventual GOP nominee. Obama’s haul is well over twice as much as the $18 million the leading Republican, Mitt Romney, managed to pull in.
Yes, it’s true that the Republicans combined raised less. It’s also true that none of them are the sitting president. In fact, none of them is even the nominee, and we’re still months ahead of the usual campaign timeline. And, it’s possible that Rick Perry or Sarah Palin can get in and scramble everything — that possibility is undoubtedly keeping some money on the sidelines for now.
But let’s get back to this target. I mused in a couple of posts shortly before the deadline, that it looked like Team O was set to fall short. The tone of their email pitches changed to a slightly panicky note and they kept pushing that silly “Dinner with the President” schtick a little too hard. (That game, by the way, pushed O’s average donation lower than it would otherwise have been, so they’re weaker than they’re letting on in the depth game too.) Well, here we are: Obama hauled in a little more than 75% of what he targeted to raise. This means he is also off track for his hoped-for billion dollar haul.
Now, overall, Obama and the DNC together raised $86 million. That’s an impressive haul, no doubt. But offsetting that, the Republican Governors Association is running rings around their Democratic rival group, and the RNC is getting its big money groove back under Chairman Priebus.
The race is on, folks, and Obama’s engine isn’t quite as powerful as it was advertised to be.
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