The Obama campaign raised a mind-boggling $150 million in September. I recall reading that the Obama campaign might have trouble matching the McCain campaign with its 84M Federal funding. But the September numbers are truly astounding. From $66M in August (which then a record), the Obama campaign has surely knocked this one out of the park. My guess is that many who had planned to contribute all along jumped on board before its too late while repeat contributors did their bit as well.
…Mr. Obama had added 632,000 new donors in September, bringing the campaign’s total to 3.1 million. The average contribution, Mr. Plouffe said, was $86….”
This record does raise some very interesting questions about the future of public financing and campaigns in general. Is this the end of public financing the way we know it? Is every future candidate going to reach out to the directly to the voters to finance their campaign? Is technology the center-piece of the strategy for all future candidates?
There is no doubt that Mr. Obama’s campaign is easily one of the best run campaigns in recent times. If Senator Obama brings the same amount of consistency, discipline and innovativeness (if he were to become President), there is room for genuine hope that he can turn the US around from its current multi-pronged mess.
p.s: The call for investigations into Obama’s money sources will likely re-surface, now that Senator McCain campaign is clearly run out of steam/ideas.
Pakora Korner 