THE OBAMA NUMBERS. First, can we all be clear on what happened here? I don’t have specific numbers in hand, but from everything I’m hearing and seeing it looks as though Barack Obama most likely beat Hillary Clinton in primary-only fundraising. Which is very, very impressive.
How did this happen, you ask? Well, even though Obama’s donors gave, on average, considerably less than Clinton’s — $250 vs. $520 — there were twice as many of them. And how did he get so many donors? All those giant rallies of 10,000 people or more in places like electorally unimportant places like Austin, Texas doubtless helped. Also: He pulled in $6.9 million online.
He has freshness and momentum and doesn’t make major missteps. And critically, he has hired the best internet team in the race, bar none. Clinton, on the other hand, might be well-served by doing a little McCain-style internal campaign rejiggering.
–Garance Franke-Ruta
