Obama Campaign Nets $51M in July; RNC, DNC at Near Parity
EmailSen. Barack Obama’s campaign brought in more than $51 million during the month of July compared to Sen. John McCain’s $27 million during the same time period.
The campaign says it was a good showing considering that the Illinois senator was on his “world tour” for 10 days in July, with nary a fundraising event for a third of the month. More than 65,000 new donors contributed to the Obama campaign, according to a press statement.
“The 65,000 new donors to the Obama campaign demonstrate just how strongly the American people are looking to fundamentally change business as usual in Washington,” said David Plouffle, Obama’s campaign manager, in the statement.
It was the third-best fundraising month for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. In February, the Obama campaign raised $55 million; June netted $52 million.
Why did the Obama campaign put this out on a Saturday instead of Friday when Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., put out his lower figure? The Obama campaign says the money was still being counted on Friday.
But I will observe that stories about the Obama campaign being flush with cash don’t exactly inspire donors to write checks, and given the DNC’s cash disadvantage vis-a-vis the RNC, stories about how much more money Obama has than McCain are misleading.
The DNC announced today that it raised $27.7 million in July; the RNC reported just under $26 million.
However, the RNC reported having nearly $75 million cash on hand at the end of July compared to the DNC’s $28.5 million.
If you combine the cash on hand for RNC/McCain, you get approximately $96 million in available funds. The combined DNC/Obama money puts the Democrats in the same ballpark, which is no small feat for the Democrats who usually suffer financially compared to the GOP.
But it does mean that the two entities are at near parity despite Obama’s proven ability to raise more money than any other candidate in American history.
- jpt
ABC News’ David Chalian contributed to this blog. It has been updated since its original posting.
Sen. DeMint: GOP Race Could Go Until Convention 
Obama Avoids Questions on Contraception Rule
With all that money and a damaged Republican brand, why are the polls tied?
Posted by: independent | August 16, 2008, 2:19 pm 2:19 pm
The prediction back in early June was that Obama would be raising 100 million a month. What happened?
Posted by: RL | August 16, 2008, 2:36 pm 2:36 pm
This is wonderful news for Democrats! What the Republicans haven’t yet realized is that Obama’s aim is to enter September with at least $84 million in the bank, essentially erasing all the advantage McCain would have from public financing.
My pessimistic estimates tell me that, between September 1 and November 4, Obama would have $100 million extra cash than McCain … And, that is absolutely wonderful news regardless of what RNC does!
Posted by: Democrat | August 16, 2008, 2:39 pm 2:39 pm
This also doesnt include the free media McCain gets whenever he releases an ad the MSM runs it for free over and over on the ‘news’ shows. Then, they frame all of the issues the way the RNC does, so this all leaves Obama still very far behind since he doesnt have a McMedia like his opponent does.
Posted by: Mike | August 16, 2008, 2:41 pm 2:41 pm
It’s called a savings. I doubt the Obama camp are spending all the money now.
Posted by: Vanessa | August 16, 2008, 2:43 pm 2:43 pm
McCain is outspending Obama in all the battleground states and still losing. It’s a landslide
Posted by: Vanessa | August 16, 2008, 2:49 pm 2:49 pm
Independent wrote:
“With all that money and a damaged Republican brand, why are the polls tied?“
=======================================
The polls show Obama leading not tied. People have known McCain for more than 26 years in the US senate. He should be doing better than Obama but people agree McCain`s ideas are archaic. He has coldwar mentality which is nothing compared to Obama`s good judgment and vision.
Change is coming. Obama 08
Posted by: Kenny | August 16, 2008, 2:51 pm 2:51 pm
Obama`s campaign is financed by people like you and me but McCain`s campaign is financed by lobbyists and oil execs. Thats why McCain never tells you how many people contributed $27m.
McCain has also opted for public financing. This means he gets an additional $80m from the tax payers for negative campaining.
Obama 08. Judgment over experience.
Posted by: Keith | August 16, 2008, 2:58 pm 2:58 pm
If money is a good indicator, Obama outspent Hillary 3 to 1 and still had to rig the caucuses, play the race card, avoid FL and Michigan, and be carried over the finish line by the DNC(not to mention the deals made to roll out endorsements everytime he got whupped in a primary).
And that was when he had hundreds of million$$!
Now the more people know about Obama, the lower his poll numbers go!!
Posted by: Rob | August 16, 2008, 3:06 pm 3:06 pm
I guess the black democrat party will need all that money to do damage control for Howard Dean
Posted by: stained | August 16, 2008, 3:09 pm 3:09 pm
For the uninformed or misleading, claiming Obama is ‘leading’, check Gallup poll results
Posted by: Rob | August 16, 2008, 3:16 pm 3:16 pm
Rob
That is one poll, at one brief moment in time. It does not mean that they are tied in “the polls.” In fact, that is the ONLY poll that has shown them tied recently. More importantly, Obama has leads in virtually every swing state.
Not that any of it really matters in August.
Posted by: jock59801 | August 16, 2008, 3:23 pm 3:23 pm
They put the word out on a Saturday because they know every cable show is covering Saddleback and will be mentioning it during their coverage. Also, I think the campaign will announce the vp tomorrow night and have a big event Monday. So they are gearing up for the kick off.
Posted by: CJ | August 16, 2008, 3:26 pm 3:26 pm
Twice as much money, twice as much advertising, with the Media behind Obama and yet he is still even with McCain, MUST TELL YOU SOMETHING. HYPE isn’t going to win the White House. Experience, dedication, knowledge, foreign policy, mean more to the public then a purchased vote.
Posted by: Mike | August 16, 2008, 3:32 pm 3:32 pm
The White House is “not for sale” Obama at any price.
Posted by: Ann | August 16, 2008, 3:34 pm 3:34 pm
Yeah…all these millions being discussed and they try to tell us how bad we have it, gas prices on the rise, Oabma tells a little 7 year old he wants to be President because America isn’t as good as it used to be? What the hell? Money will not determine the outcome of this free election, even if Obama outspends 4 to 1 on ads like he did agains Hillary and still lost the last 9 out of 14. I’m guessing most Americans are put off with all this talk of big money and Obama campaign should not be so flagrant.
McCAIN ’08/HILLRY ’12
Posted by: Debra | August 16, 2008, 3:37 pm 3:37 pm
51 mil. YES WE CAN
Posted by: Omentum | August 16, 2008, 3:41 pm 3:41 pm
Bruce Becker
You are spot on. Fixed Noise are definitely in the tank for the old guy. Carrying his water and what is so hilarious is they don’t even like McSame.
bizarro
Posted by: Omentum | August 16, 2008, 3:44 pm 3:44 pm
I wonder who are the donors??????and
what they want from Obama…..
I’m a democrat but i”ll vote republican
in november…….
Posted by: ROBERT | August 16, 2008, 3:57 pm 3:57 pm
Why are you not discussing Obama’s illegal and troubling contributions from oversees? Why are you not addressing the overcontributions from the US? The FTC is auditing the reports and has asked Obama for clarification re these illegal contributions and is being stonewalled. Why are you not reporting the troubling use of ACORN and it’s affiliates? Acorn illegal voter registrations and votes in Washington state were responsible for incorrect election results.
Posted by: Carr | August 16, 2008, 3:58 pm 3:58 pm
I’m saving my donation to McCain until after the Democratic convention. There’s still a chance for them to ditch this losing candidate and nominate a winner. If they don’t, mark my words, the last week in August will be phenomenal for McCain.
Posted by: marylou | August 16, 2008, 4:10 pm 4:10 pm
Some of us need to learn a little about public financing and the reasons that every candidate up until now have had the honor to be bound by it. One thing in my mind is it sets a reasonable limit on the money it should take to become president (though still pretty outrageous in my book) and second it establishes a level playing field. That makes you believe in the American sense of fair play.
Posted by: tiredtoo | August 16, 2008, 4:14 pm 4:14 pm
The Polls: The reason the polling is
so close is because it is not run by the people. Its ran by the bias reporting of the news media, who favors McCain, not the people who are showing they want integrity back in the Whitehouse.
Posted by: Beverly | August 16, 2008, 4:41 pm 4:41 pm
Marylou, I think you need to do some research and stop taking for granted what you hear on the news, remember knowledge is power, not false rumor and bias news coverage.
Posted by: Beverly | August 16, 2008, 4:45 pm 4:45 pm
Enough with the stupid games.The republicans won the last election with tons of money and a seriously organized grass roots strategy.The republican party is the party of big money.John Kerry played it clean and nice and that BIG MONEY GOP ran over top of him.They lied cheated and stole two elections.Make no mistake about it.This election is war!Wars cost money.Democrats will NOT win this election playing by the same rules as before.If Obama took public financing the GOP would crush him.The GOP knows this and so does Obama.The republicans are knife weilding gutter street figthers like Hillary eluded to.Obama is preparing for war and that requires shrewd tactics.Go Obama!
Posted by: TV | August 16, 2008, 4:51 pm 4:51 pm
I got at least a grand left to donate to Obama. Me and at least a 1.8 million other people
OBAMA 08
get out the vote democrats.
donate today.
OBAMA 08
Posted by: Omentum | August 16, 2008, 5:05 pm 5:05 pm
Democrats will not lay down and let republicans run that freight train over the country again.We have a republican president and enough republicans in the House and Senate to halt progress that would postively influence America.Finally, millions not just the wealthy have the opportunity to have their voices heard through contributions to the Obama campaign.Call it private all you want, all those people are definitely the public financing him.And yes some rich people support him too because he obviously has some sound strategies that would reach All Americans.Change you can vote for.Change that i will vote for. Obama ’08
Posted by: TV | August 16, 2008, 5:12 pm 5:12 pm
I have been enjoying the olympics and the break away from political stories.I want this country to make history in November.McCain is not the answer.Obama ’08
Posted by: TV | August 16, 2008, 5:19 pm 5:19 pm
Berverly
AMEN….
Posted by: Omentum | August 16, 2008, 5:20 pm 5:20 pm
No doubt about it, Jake, we American$ are going to have the be$t government that money can buy, if the indication$ from the RNC and the DNC $et any example. Thi$ campaign will certainly go down in hi$tory a$ the mo$t expen$ive one yet! (I$ that rumble I hear the Founding Father$ turning over in their grave$?)
Posted by: chuck | August 16, 2008, 5:58 pm 5:58 pm
I close with facts for the cynics.
Cynics would come out in droves and tell you what we cannot do when we come together to take back this country of ours, said Obama back in February of 2007.
Since then, cynics from far and wide have come out to add their two cents, but unfortunately, not one cynic has been able to penetrate the movement of Hope and Change that’s coming.
Remember, they’ll keep WHINING, OBAMA keeps winning. That’s the pattern.
POTUS OBAMA – ITS INEVITABLE
Posted by: Nat Turner | August 16, 2008, 5:59 pm 5:59 pm
Is abc on the Mcsame payroll??.
remember they changed his answer to a question so that he may look good atleast fix-news are open about it
Posted by: chad22 | August 16, 2008, 6:03 pm 6:03 pm
Obama is not a money-maker for the Democratic Party.
Howard Dean and the Super Delegates called that one wrong.
But, hey, that was just ONE of their mistakes this primary season.
Posted by: mlwheeler | August 16, 2008, 6:13 pm 6:13 pm
“51 mil. YES WE CAN” Nomentum)
….
You ought to be ashamed!
With all the poverty and foreclosures and huge gas bills and ever increasing food prices in this struggling economy…. you’re taking money so that your presumptuous candidate can have an even bigger arena to announce his possible nomination?
How much would it cost this country should he actually WIN?
Is that the kind oc CHANGE we really want?
… and are they paying you to blog?????
Posted by: eyes open | August 16, 2008, 6:15 pm 6:15 pm
REALITY CHECK……….
=======================
Obama raised a bunch of money…
but he CANNOT close the deal…..
What’s the problem with Obama?????
Posted by: ROBERT | August 16, 2008, 6:21 pm 6:21 pm
Chad:
It’s WRONG for ANY candidate to collect that kind of money to spend/waste on campaigning!
..
AND as others have mentioned…. it Obama has spent the most… but it doesn’t seem to be doing him any good.
Frankly, I feel that if a candidate can’t close the deal with a REASONABLE amount of money outlaid…. then maybe he wasn’t meant to in the first place!
But feel free to keep on giving!
Posted by: eyes open | August 16, 2008, 6:34 pm 6:34 pm
Lot of money. Obama could have stuck to his word and took public financing but forget intergrity. Most of Obama’s surrogates suck too. Bill richardson can’t think on the fly, now dean with his race comments. The only one I seen do a decent job for him was Hillary in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago. To me this is scary. I hope Obama plans on delivering on his promises, and I hope people think that the effects of 400 years of oppression will end automatically if Obama becomes elected.
Posted by: rachel | August 16, 2008, 6:54 pm 6:54 pm
“51 mil. YES WE CAN” Nomentum)
….
You ought to be ashamed!
With all the poverty and foreclosures and huge gas bills and ever increasing food prices in this struggling economy…. you’re taking money so that your presumptuous candidate can have an even bigger arena to announce his possible nomination?
How much would it cost this country should he actually WIN?
Is that the kind oc CHANGE we really want?
… and are they paying you to blog?????
=====================================
Indeed, you should be ashamed. When your candidate give the nod to the likes of Corsi to put out garbage, and put out ads with the likes of Britney paris and MOSES. Don’t be hating just because your geriatric candidate cant even fill a bingo hall. We need a venue that will contain the HOPE that we have in cleaning up the putrid mess this present administration has gotten us and to prevent his third term.
and yes we will be addressing the foreclosures and all the other situations you mentioned. McBush sure isn’t.
Dont feel like you are alone. Exxon Mobile and Walmart is just as nervous as you are!!!
OBAMA 08
Posted by: Omentum | August 16, 2008, 7:01 pm 7:01 pm
Old Phil also had it right
THE GOP has become a party of Whiners
They are experiencing a mental recession.
Posted by: Omentum | August 16, 2008, 7:06 pm 7:06 pm
Why is Obama so fake?
Posted by: young_voter | August 16, 2008, 7:08 pm 7:08 pm
Obviously the Republicans do not want the White House bad enough, and are not willing to ante up. Either that, or they see that the press’s total failure to vet Obama means that he is inevitable, and so why waste the money.
Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | August 16, 2008, 7:15 pm 7:15 pm
tHIS ELECTION IS GETTING SICKENING. WHAT MUST THE REST OF THE WORLD THINK OF US SPENDING MILLIONS AND MILLIONS ON ONE ELECTION WHILE CHILDREN STARVE AND DIE FROM PREVENTABLE ILLNESS. AMERICA IS GOING CRAZY AND LOSING THEIR MORAL COMPASS.
Posted by: KARI | August 16, 2008, 7:16 pm 7:16 pm
REALITY CHECK……….
=======================
Obama raised a bunch of money…
but he CANNOT close the deal…..
What’s the problem with Obama?????
Posted by: ROBERT | Aug 16, 2008 6:21:07 PM
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ROBERT … HMMMMMM lets see
He raised record contributions for the primaries and REALITY CHECK….. He closed the deal. Hillary was sometimes 20 points in the polls ahead of him and he closed in and took the primaries.
HMMMM he’s leading and at worst tied with McSame now.
In the Primaries he was the closer
In the Gen Election he is the trouncer.
OBAMA 08. Read’em and weep GOP!!!!
Posted by: Omentum | August 16, 2008, 7:20 pm 7:20 pm
I wonder where the plate is being passed for Obama.
Posted by: Kralizec | August 16, 2008, 7:42 pm 7:42 pm
REALITY CHECK—for Omentum…
Obama lost ALL and the important states
in the union on primaries…….
He manipulated the caucuses in ALL small
red states and got all the delegates…
DNC,PELOSI,REID,KENNEDY,RICHADSON,
EDWARDS and the rest of the SD endorsed
him,even after Hillary’s big win…..
The whole fiasco WAS an inside job….
That’s why millions of Hillary’s supporters will vote McCain in
november……..
Posted by: ROBERT | August 16, 2008, 7:46 pm 7:46 pm
Omentum…yeah that Obama is “trouncing” McCain 44 to 44. Really trouncing him.
McCAIN ’08/HILLARY ’12
Posted by: Debra | August 16, 2008, 7:48 pm 7:48 pm
I second everything Robert said!
HILLARY SUPPORTER FOR McCAIN….DNC IS A DIRTY ORGANIZATION.
Posted by: Debra | August 16, 2008, 7:49 pm 7:49 pm
Keith…The biggest fund raisers include people like Julius Genachowski, a former senior official at the FCC and tech executive who is new to big-time political fund-raising; Robert Wolf, president and chief operating officer of UBS Investment Bank; James Torrey, a New York hedge fund investor,( 1BL); and Charles Rivkin, an animation studio head in Los Angeles. …An analysis of campaign finance records shows that about two-thirds of his bundlers are concentrated in four major industries. law, securities, real estate and entertainment. It is worth noting that UBS major 10 equity Funds have holdings that involve BIG OIL…EXXON AND BRITISH PETROL and HILIBURTON…THE CANDIDATE IS OBAMA..They ALL take oil money….Obama did not raise 51 Million by nickel and dime from people like you and me..LOL
Posted by: CuriousIndep | August 16, 2008, 8:26 pm 8:26 pm
With all the harm Bush has done to our beloved Republic in the last 8 years, is it possible that Hillary supporters will vote for 8 more years of the McSame? Except much worse. Much worse on warmongering and throwing off men and women into harm’s way. Much worse on the Supreme Court and the destruction of our justice system. Much worse on the economy and no taxes for those makinhg five million dollars a year. Much worse for women with adultery, C**T calling, and no funds for birth control but funds for viagra. I weep for our nation.
Posted by: shirl | August 16, 2008, 10:42 pm 10:42 pm
Well, well well, so it finally comes out! This is the bigger issue that babyboomer women have with the Dem party. It is not that Hillary, our choice, did not get the nomination. It is that it is harder and harder to distinguish the two parties from each other. The Democratic party has moved so far away from their basic core principles that it is sad. And, even with their mimicking of the Reagan and Bush groups with their notorious k street, Obama is still virtually at a dead heat with mcCain. Something is radically wrong that he is not leading in the polls by leaps and bounds by this point in time if people are so concerned about change. Keep in mind that many fat cats like Kennedy and Kerry gave Obama their contributor’s list on a silver platter so if you think he is not in the pockets of some wealthy institutions you are only fooling yourselves. I will not vote for anyone who represents this so-called new, watered-down, version of my beloved Democratic party. Myself and many others are going to send a message loud and clear that if you act like the Republicans, than it makes no difference who we vote for, so we might as well vote for the authentic original Republican party. We are boycotting the Democratic party until the powers that be wake the heck up. We have had enough with this nonsense and trickery. From now on, a huge chunk of women voters they will no longer be able to just assume that we will vote Democrat. They are going to earn us back every step of the way. I blame ourselves. We should have drawn this line in the sand a long, long time ago and didn’t for some reason. But, now we have and are voting for John McCain.
Posted by: Mary Anne | August 17, 2008, 12:31 am 12:31 am
With all that money and a damaged Republican brand, why are the polls tied?
1) Long democratic primary
2) Moderate republican candidate eith appeal to independents (though weak conservatives)
3) Republican concentration on advertising versus Democratic concentration GOTV.
Posted by: nickhodg | August 17, 2008, 3:41 am 3:41 am
Why is it only here that you keep on hearing clinton,mccain,mccain clinton,this started since january this year,as soon as obama got himself recognised, something is fishy here, sometime ago in my post i was praising Obama,they removed it as soon as posted it,then later i tried to be critical Obama,saying i am concerned obama will try to make some finger(gesture) at people while taking the oath office,surprisingly it stood and never was removed,on so many occasions they did the same thing to me,and as i always tried to use the same system again,it worked again and again,somebody somewhere at abc thinks hillary clinton and john mCcain has many things in common,what a joke? unless #”?_
Posted by: Adams | August 17, 2008, 9:44 am 9:44 am
Read back through these posts and you’ll see the McSame supporters are whining and that’s all they have to offer! NO substantiation whatsoever. Screw ‘em. Everything they offer against Obama, McCain has done or worse… A flip-flopping, war monger who doesn’t understand the economy or the peoples financial pains.
There are a lot of us republicans standing in the shadows, quietly watching and waiting for our chance to be heard with our votes for Obama and more importantly, against McCain.
OBAMA in ’08
Posted by: HeyYou | August 17, 2008, 10:34 am 10:34 am
The polls are tied because of what the three major networks and cable news channels are doing with their reporting! McCain doesn’t need to spend a dime advertising nor bother with having to explain any of his positions, actions, past comments with “PASS” that the media has given him in order to keep their “Talking Heads” political shows sponsored and on the air.
Posted by: Nathaniel McGee | August 17, 2008, 1:14 pm 1:14 pm