Today's Campaign Video is Obama's A Chorus of Millions. I picked this video not just because it is extraordinarily inspirational, but because its title touches on the events of February 6, 2008. As you know Barack and Hillary came out of Super Tuesday basically tied. Both have spent tens of millions buying ads and campaigning across the nation. Both have armies of supporters. On the morning of the 6th it was revealed that late last week Hillary loaned 5 million to her campaign. Why? Mark Halperin says that among other reasons "the pool of wealthy donors not infected with Clinton Fatigue is largely maxed out and tapped out." The N.Y. Times reports that Hillary's advisors are saying
she’s considering another loan because money is tight now — the mega-primaries yesterday were quite the financial drain. And although she won many states yesterday, including some very big states like New York and California, the victories weren’t resoundingly decisive enough — especially when you look at the extremely tight delegate matchup right now — to inspire a lot of new giving...While Hillary impressively raised $120,000,000 from $2,000 per plate dinner speeches and similar events, she has maxed out her donor base. Many, if not most, of her most ardent supporters can't give any more this campaign season. Her gold plated team of Hillraisers has not been particularly good at expanding her donor base beyond the New York, Hollywood, and Washington DC establishments.
In contrast, Obama raised $32 million in January and is on pace to raise $30 million more in February. As of this morning Obama had collected $6,746,495 since Super Tuesday. Most of his contributions have come from hundreds of thousands of small donors who have been giving $5-$10-$100-$200 donations via the internet. They are still giving. Very few of them are close to being maxed out.
Unless Hillary can quickly build a similar base of small donors she is going to find it difficult to compete.
The fund raising battle being waged between Hillary and Barack is very encouraging for the Democratic party and for democracy in general. A chorus of millions of ordinary Americans is crushing the very best fat cat fund raisers in the Democratic party.
If you encounter a campaign video in need of broader play, please email the link to proctoring.congress@gmail.com subject: Campaign Video of the Day.
A Chorus of Millions after the break.
