Democrats’ Obviously Not The Poor Man’s Party Anymore

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As numbers start to trickle in you will notice that the Democratic party is raising substantially more than the Republicans. Even though most people will try and say that the Democrats are “for the poor man” it is quite obvious it’s not the poor man supporting the party. The problem that they have had in the past, and recently with Hsu, the Democrats always seem to have some dirty money in their circle. I’m sure both parties have their share of questionable donators but it’s clear the Dems attract the most crooks and schemers.

Official and unofficial numbers have starting to come in and there are little surprises to be had. Barack reportedly raised at least $20 million over the summer, $19 million of which could be spent on the primary, showing that he continues to be a formidable fund-raiser. Sources are saying that Hillary has topped Obama, raising over $27 million in the last quarter. Dwarfed by those numbers, Edwards is being reported to have raised $7 million, Richardson raised $5.2 million.

Now you have the Republicans, their numbers looking very pale in comparison. Mitt Romney leads the Republican pack with around $10 million from donors, advisers say the Romney used more that $6 million of his own money for his campaign.

The Democratic presidential candidates continued to raise significantly more money during the last three months than their Republican counterparts, according to official and unofficial third-quarter fund-raising tallies that were released yesterday.

Giuliani’s numbers have not yet been released but said over the weekend that he thought he would “do as well as the other Republicans and may do better than some.” Thompson raised at least $8 million in his first quarter as a candidate, according to people involved in his campaign, less than other leading candidates raised in their early months. McCain was reported as raising more than $5 million, according to a Republican familiar with the campaign’s finances.

All of the campaigns who gave their tallies reported drop-offs in contributions in the third-quarter, which is considered a difficult time to raise money as many well-heeled donors get out of their offices and off the fund-raising circuit to go on vacations and to their summer houses. And the campaigns often have already tapped their donors to the legal limit in contributions. But the Democrats still appeared to weather the summer months better than the Republicans.

Mr. Obama’s take brings his total for the year to nearly $80 million. He attracted 93,000 new contributors to his campaign, aides said, which raised the total number of donors to 352,000. Mr. Obama has focused on building a big base of small donors whom he can repeatedly tap into for new money.

But the fact that it was his smallest take of the year led to at least a whiff of worry for some supporters, which his campaign manager, David Plouffe sought to tamp down yesterday. “Many in Washington have spent the last weeks declaring the outcome of this race to be preordained, and the primary process a mere formality,” Mr. Plouffe said in a statement. “Yet, in this quarter alone, 93,000 more Americans joined our campaign, because they desire real change and believe Barack Obama is the one candidate who can deliver it.”

The Edwards campaign said that with the $7 million it raised over the summer, it has $12 million in cash on hand — which could result in $22 million once it received the public matching funds that it has applied for. The matching funds will give the campaign a needed infusion of cash, but will limit how it can be spent.

Edwards campaign officials said that the matching funds would not only help them in their quest for the nomination but would help distinguish Mr. Edwards from other Democratic candidates, particularly Mrs. Clinton, who are opting out of the public matching funds program, which limits spending. They portrayed it as a continuation of Mr. Edwards’ criticisms of Mrs. Clinton for accepting donations from political action committees and lobbyists — donations he does not accept.

“The American people will have a choice, a sharp distinction between us and Hillary Clinton,” Joe Trippi, a senior Edwards campaign adviser, said in a conference call with reporters.

The $8 million that Mr. Thompson reportedly raised — campaign officials said they were still counting checks — suggested that there was no huge pool of donors who were unmoved by the rest of the Republican field and were eagerly awaiting his entrance into the race. But his supporters said that many of his donors — there were more than 70,000 of them — did not give the maximum allowed, meaning that they could be tapped for more donations.

Source.

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