Obama Fundraising Magic Not Dead Yet...$52 Million In June

There had been some speculation that the Obama camp's slow reporting of its June fundraising numbers might mean the total wasn't going to be very impressive. Well, it didn't work out that way.

Obama raised $52 million in June alone. That's his second best month ever and only $3 million shy of his record take in February.

In an e-mail to supporters, campaign manager David Plouffe said the Obama campaign raised the funds with an average donation of $68. The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee have a combined total of $72 million in the bank, Plouffe said.

"But more impressive than the number is how you did it," Plouffe wrote. "Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people contributed to building our campaign for change. Many were first-time donors, giving only what they could afford -- and the average donation was just $68."

By comparison, McCain raised $22 million in June and that was his best month ever.

On the upside for McCain, the RNC has plenty of money, a lot more than the DNC ($68 million to $22 million respectively), but that money comes with a lot of strings in terms of what it can be used for and how much coordination there can be with the McCain camp. Apparently someone wrote a law about that.

Obama is certainly going to play in a lot of states he has little to no chance of winning simply to make McCain spend money in those 'safe' states and divert resources from true battlegrounds. Money isn't everything but it sure helps.

(I updated the DNC number from $4 million to $20 million to reflect the newly released number from what's in the story I linked to.)

posted by DrewM. at 09:18 AM

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