4/5 News Roundup: Obama's fundraising is the top story in the news

by: News

Thu Apr 05, 2007 at 08:16:10 AM CDT

New York Times:

If there was any doubt that Senator Barack Obama could stand toe to toe with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, at least in raising money, the matter was settled on Wednesday as Mr. Obama's presidential campaign announced raising $25 million in the first three months of the year.

Chicago Tribune:

Sen. Barack Obama's announcement Wednesday that he has raised nearly as much money as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton this year, bringing in $25 million for his presidential bid from a wide array of contributors, shakes up the race and makes it clear no Democrat will enjoy the early dominance the former first lady had been trying to establish.

"Anyone who can put together $25 million in a quarter comes off as a very serious and credible candidate," said Chris Lehane, who was the spokesman for Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000.

Had the New York senator been able to raise far more than her competitors, it might have helped her build the kind of inevitability enjoyed in 1999 by then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush, whose fundraising dominance helped drive challengers from the contest and secure the Republican nomination.

Associated Press - by Nedra Pickler:

The figures were the latest evidence that Obama, a political newcomer who has served just two years in the Senate, has emerged as the most powerful new force in presidential politics this year. It also reinforced his status as a significant threat to Clinton, who'd hoped her own $26 million first quarter fundraising total would begin to squeeze her rivals out of contention.

While Clinton has honed a vast national fundraising network through two Senate campaigns and her husband's eight years as president, Obama launched his bid for the White House with a relatively small donor base concentrated largely in Illinois, his home state. But his early opposition to the Iraq war and voter excitement over his quest to be the first black president quickly fueled a powerful fundraising machine.

Clinton's campaign often solicited the $4,600 donations, while Obama's campaign focused on recruiting small dollar donors. In the coming months, he can return to those donors and ask those who haven't maxed out to give more. Unlike Clinton, Obama says he doesn't take money from the lobbyists or political action committees that are frequent contributors on other campaigns.

San Francisco Chronicle:

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has raised $25 million in the first quarter of 2007, bolstered by an innovative Internet campaign that has helped him expand his appeal to a wider base of donors than his Democratic presidential rivals.

The Illinois senator's fundraising between Jan. 1 and March 31 brought in nearly as much as the $26 million raised by Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. But his base of 100,000 supporters surpasses the combined donors of Clinton, with a reported 50,000, and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, whose campaign announced he had raised $14 million from 40,000 donors.

Obama, who has drawn thousands of California voters to huge rallies in the state in the past month, "has done very well in California ... connecting with voters on a retail basis,'' said Steve Westly, the former California state controller who endorsed the Illinois senator and is a co-chair of his statewide campaign.

Westly cited a mix of "a lot of sophisticated social networking tools, blogging teams and stuff that no one has been coming close to,'' he said. "They have taken campaigning and social networking on line to a whole different level ... because people don't have to wait for the top-down traditional approach. You've got the people fired up on Obama talking to each other.''

Associated Press - by Mike Glover:

If money talks in presidential politics, Sen. Barack Obama has 25 million reasons why skeptical Democrats should start to listen.

"That should send a pretty clear signal that people are looking for a change," said another Iowa Democratic activist, Carl Grover. While he hasn't donated money to Obama, Grover said, "I'm definitely thinking about it."

In Iowa, which is nearly overrun this spring by Republicans and Democrats seeking traction in their campaigns, Obama's money report _ it said 100,000 people had donated _ was the buzz of a large and noisy crowd of political activists.

"The fact that he had twice as many contributors as Clinton is important," said Dan Courtney of Mason City. "I think it shows he's a viable candidate."