Campaign Fundraising Records

The second fiscal quarter of the year has come to a close with a campaign donation surge. Though the Republican candidates have not released their second quarter totals yet (they have until July 15th, and we'll definitely blog about them when they are released!), Democratic presidential candidates Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) collected the most cash. In the second quarter of the year (April 1-June 30), Senator Obama raised about $32.5 million, five million ahead of Senator Clinton's $27 million. According to their respective campaigns, Obama has raised about $55.7 million in total while Clinton has collected about $50 million--and there's still more than two fundraising quarters remaining prior to the Iowa caucuses on January 14, 2008, the first actual election event. To add perspective, during the 2004 election cycle, then-frontrunner former Governor Howard Dean (D-VT) raised only $52.9 million for the entire year he campaigned! For the rest of the Democratic candidates, former Senator John Edwards (D-NC) raised $9 million dollars, Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) raised $7 million, and Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) brought in about $3.25 million during the second quarter. Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), former Senator Mike Gravel (D-AK), and Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) have not released their second quarter fundraising totals. As stated above, the Republican candidates are expected to release their totals in the next few days.

OpenSecrets.org is an excellent non-partisan website which collects information about the immense amount of money poured into US elections every year. Under US campaign finance laws, all campaign donations must not only be public, but also limited to a certain amount per person, currently $2,300 for both the primary race and the general election. These donations are often referred to as "hard money," and corporations and unions are prohibited from contributing hard money to candidates.