Barack Obama’s Fundraising and the Small Donor Myth
Barack Obama got his campaign money through tapping a huge small-donor network, right? Mmm, maybe not.
The Campaign Finance Institute released a new study that tallied "small donors," whose repeated contributions made them medium- or large-size donors. And the study—partially—punctures the myth of the small Obama donor. And it leaves a couple of questions unanswered.
The study found that 49 percent of the contributions Obama received were for under $200; this is the number underlying the claim that Obama had a revolutionary number of small donors. (The like figure was 32 percent for John McCain, 37 percent for John Kerry, and 31 percent for George W. Bush in 2004.) But the study also shows that the percentage of donors giving a total of less than $200 was not dramatically different from that of McCain, Bush, or Kerry.
To wit: 26 percent of Obama donors gave a total of less than $200, which is only a hair more than the 25 percent who gave that amount to George W. Bush in 2004. (McCain: 21 percent, Kerry: 20 percent—I wonder if going further back, one would find a correlation between "winning" in this category and winning the popular presidential vote.)
Obama distinguished himself in the medium- and large-donor categories. Donors totaling $201-$999 accounted for 27 percent of Obama donors (McCain: 20 percent, Kerry: 24 percent, Bush: 13 percent) and donors giving a total of $1,000 or more made up 47 percent of Obama's patrons (McCain: 59 percent, Kerry: 56 percent, Bush: 60 percent).So, good for him in that regard.
But here's the unanswered question: How many of Obama's donors, particularly the ones who gave small contributions that added up to a medium- or large-size pile of cash, had ever given money politically before? In other words, to what extent was Obama activating a previously uninterested group of political donors?
And here's another one, tangentially related, that I flagged a month ago: Why didn't the Obama campaign more carefully monitor the donations it did get? Like I said, it's only tangentially related, but it should still be asked until an answer is forthcoming.
Tags: presidential election 2008 | Barack Obama | campaigns
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Reader Comments
duh of IL - DUHH!!!
donors can give multiple donations. DUH! he's saying many donors "small donors" gave multiple times which makes them "big donors"
Do you understand the implications?
Obama took lots of multiple donations from the same small donor and said, "look, I got x amount of small donations" when really he got one donation from one person split up.
That distorts the facts, realistically Obama took money from large private interests, a few dollars at a time.
I hope any moron who donated to the republicrats is that amount short on their bills this month. Donate to yourself, not to rich politicians who are only going to do what big business tells them to.
And Duh of IL, you are from the most crooked part of the country, Chicago politics are notorious for dirty biz and we hired their poster child to run our country!
PS. Obama took money from foreign donors, but with his half-ass disclosure we'll have a hard time proving it.
Obama people
I am glad the elections are over because if there is anything more annoying than politicians, It's their MORON supporters. Whether you gave money to barry hussein or johnny maverick, you are supporting the Corporate Candidates. When I'm told Barry will change America, I laugh and ask how and why? The answers are awesome!
I love looking at opensecrets.org and seeing how the major industries divide up their money. What's odd is this election the dems have taking lots and lots of money from traditionally "republican" lobbies. How weird, that major corporations cover both ends, so crazy.
I'm excited to show my fellow obamatard friends how he isn't changing anything really. If keeping Gates in and hiring a bunch of old Clinton croonies is change than I stand corrected.
Obama is changing America like I change my sheets, it's a rotation of power people!
Visit Detroit and call Obama, let him know there's a third world city in America
An answer to Ken. of CA
Sir,
In your post "Never Say Die?” you stated, "you guys are still trying to tear him down" and "Get over it", and, my personal favorite, "Grow up and learn how to lose gracefully".
I ask you, sir, what has the left been screeching about for the last eight years? How many millions of bumper stickers have been pumped out on the subject of Bush's election by the Supreme Court? How many Volvo suspensions have given up the ghost from the weight of this and other “witty” bumper stickers? Where were you when the attacks on Gov. Palin became utterly disgusting? Where were you when the implication was made that her child with a disability was the product of an incestuous union between her husband and their teenage daughter? Where were you when she was lynched in effigy and someone called the act art?
If you would like us to "Grow up and learn how to lose gracefully", don't use yourself as an example.
This article is not an attack on President-Elect Obama. At no point in the article does the author make an accusation or sling innuendo. He is simply asking a question, and what is the reaction of the left??? The same shrill smear tactics we have seen for the past eight years. Once again, ladies and gentlemen of the left, if you want different behavior from your political opponents, don't use yourself as an example.
We would like an answers to the questions posed in this article. That is all.
This election cycle has brought out some terrifying behavior from the left. And if the liberal leaning folks of this nation don’t want their party to eventually self-destruct from the moral weight of the poisonous vitriol it’s more radicalized members have been brewing and spewing, they had better start asking some questions.
Please, before the inevitable accusations of racism are made against me, I beg you, ask some questions.
In other words, Speak Truth to Power.
Go on, I dare ya.
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