Obama 135K Donors Strong

ABC News’ Jonathan Greenberger Reports: The presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has now received donations from an astonishing 135,000 people, the campaign reported Wednesday night in an e-mail to supporters.

The Obama campaign opened many observers’ eyes a few weeks ago when it announced that it had raised $25 million from 104,000 donors during the first three months of the year. Now, with five days left to go in April, it is reporting more than 37,000 people have donated to the campaign this month and 90 percent of them are valuable first-time donors.

By comparison, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., reported that 60,000 people donated to her campaign during the first quarter.

Obama has cultivated a large donor base in part by holding many fundraisers with a low or variable price of entry. Last Friday, for example, he held his "New England Kickoff" in Boston, where depending on a supporter’s age, a ticket could be had for anywhere from $23 to $2,300. More than 5,500 such people forked over the cash to attend the rally.

Supporters have also been flocking to give money to Obama online. This month alone, the campaign reports 20,000 people have donated online. Of those, 18,000 are first-time donors.

And for Obama, the money keeps coming this weekend, he visits Los Angeles for a series of fundraisers, including one hosted by Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel.