Obama Raises $6.9m Online in 1st Quarter

By Ed Oswald | Published April 4, 2007, 2:28 PM

The Internet's growing influence on American politics is becoming more apparent this past week as data on first quarter fundraising numbers shows several candidates raking in millions in online donations.

Most recent of these announcements is that of Senator Barack Obama, who announced he had raised $25 million in the first quarter on Wednesday - a staggering $6.9 million of that coming from the Internet. He led all candidates in soliciting online contributions.

His online success alone nearly eclipsed the first quarter record for total contributions set in 1999 by Al Gore, who raised $8.9 million.

Obama's online campaign is very reminiscent of Howard Dean's 2004 presidential bid, widely considered by political watchers as the first to fully use the power of the Internet. The Senator's site also includes social networking features.

Other candidates are making progress in using the Internet to expand their donor base. Of the leading Democratic candidates, Hillary Rodham Clinton has raised $26 million, $4.2 million of it online; and John Edwards raised $14 million; $3.3 million online.

Although Republicans have been slower to promote online giving, all three major candidates -- Giuliani, Romney, and McCain -- actively solicit them. However, unlike the Democrats, none provided specifics on their Web successes in releasing their numbers.

Comments

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Can't wait to see his "Howard Dean" moment.

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I can't believe they still haven't caught this guy, and now he's raising money online. Why can't they just trace the, what? Oh, OBAMA. Nevermind.

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Heh...

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Ok, so a non-entity has built up some money from people who have nothing better to do with their money. The whole Obama question is ridiculous. He is a no-body. If he is anything at all, he would be a spontaneous creation out of the minds of the democratic party. Essentially, a warm body to be used. The quintessential "hollow-man".

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For some reason I want him to win so bad, I have confidence but that and $26 million will get him second place to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Nomination, especially when you have Bill Clinton next to you.

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I hope he or Hillary run.. they will so hand the election to Guliani.

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Read the first sentence again, folks. The internet is the primary fundraising tool, not to mention how candidates get their message out, not TV. I just wish they wouldn't take this money and give it to networks for endless, silly, childish attack ads that insult everyone's intelligence. At least online, you can have a decent conversation and argument about issues. You look at the talking heads on TV, and they're all millionaires (have you seen much Chris Matthews spits on his guests and dribbles spittle on his chin? He's like your gross grandfather in the nursing home) and apparently there's only a handful of people who can judge american politics — Pat Buchanan and anyone claiming to have worked in a former administration.

As a tangent, Obama won't win the D-nomination. Money isn't the best predictor of votes. Howard Dean had the nomination sewed up in '04 only to get knocked to the ground in both Iowa and NH. After that, the campaign was essentially out of cash. I'm far more inclined to vote for the person who doesn't want to be president (Al Gore?) than those ambitious souls who desperately crave the position.

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Al Gore???

roflmao....

Now *that's* funny.

Now, if he were to win the presidency, I might actually stick around. If Hillary were to win, that'd be it for me. I'd leave the country, having lost all faith in the people of the United States. If Gore won, I'd still have lost all faith, but I'd want to stick around for the pure entertainment value that witless, two-faced, do-gooder would undoubtedly provide us.

Well, him *and* his lovely wife...PMRC fo'evah...

lmao...

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Al Gore who invented the the internet........

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BN please dont dilute your site...

Tech articles plz!

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Bill,

Take your geopolitical views elsewhere. We dont give a s*** who thinks what about abortion. Just because you think one way means everyone else is wrong?

You're like the born agains thinking they can force thier beleifs on everybody else bacause they think they are holier than other christians. In reality, they are the biggest bunch of spouse cheating despicable liars I have ever come accross.

Where are the technology and software stories anyways, what the hell is this? Dateline?

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NO those so called Christians are either still lost, or they are back slidden Christians. Also I am not sure how they would force anything on anyone, if they speak the word of God, and it eats at someones (conscience/soul) My friend that would be the work of God through the Holy Spirit. Yes I am a bible thumping / Jesus freak.

Whatever you want to call me. I do care what particular politicians views are on abortion / gay rights, anything that promotes sin or allows it. Because pro abortion is a sin (thou (I/you) shall not kill), homosexual behavior also a sin (look in the book of Romans and other books of the bible).

God Bless,

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I'm sure there are some good honest born agains who are genuinely good people but they are very hard to find and even if you do find one, they still try and convince people that they are living in sin by forcing thier beliefs on you.

They like to open a conversation by asking you "are you going to heaven"? I say "****in A"

p.s. the bible was written by man, and long ago they decided what should be included and what should be left out to make Jesus appear divine. All of the things that made him look like an ordinary person was left out.

Dont get me started on this garbage, I would rather talk about how much Blu-Ray sucks.

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Interesting.

Again, this has nothing to do with Software or Betas.

Nice....

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Interesting.

Again, this has nothing to do with Software or Betas.

Nice....

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Agreed.

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This man is a wicked individual. Don't be fooled by his smooth talk and easy smile.

The fact that he believes that a woman can terminate the life of her unborn child anytime upto and INCLUDING birth is deplorable.

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By who's standards?

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Certainly not mine... I believe in aborting people at any time in their life... :)

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Any human being that cares at all about another human being.

It is a baby with a heartbeat not a thing or an "it".

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LOL

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And you made that up when?

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stick to televangelism.

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it's not your choice. it's the mother's.

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Now you're talkin'! ;^)

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Ask DaveBG about this, he's a living abortion.

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She already made her choice when she decided to have relations with her partner.

It's like drinking and then being surprised you got drunk.

Now I know that passions can get the best of us and I truly feel for those women who are feeling caught between a rock and hard place over finding out that they have been blessed with a pregnancy.

But terminating that life because of a mistake does not make the mistake or the termination any better.

Most states (if not all) have laws where anyone can turn a newborn child in at either a fire station or hospital with no questions asked.

There are millions of people each day who are seeking to adopt children, how much better would you feel knowing your child was going to be cared for by someone who not only wanted a child, but had the means to care for them.

The emotional scarring that we have allowed women to endure for the sake of "choice" is outrageous.

Any candidate who thinks that life is so disposable obviously doesn't give a darn about me or any other of his constituents. We are just a "flesh bag using up resources" and don't think that these same individuals will some day try pushing through legislation that says if you are no longer a benefit to the state, that they will have the right to end your life at that point as well.

Don't believe me? Just look at what Hitler did in Germany.

Evil prevails not so much because of evil men, but because no Good men stood up and said "ENOUGH!"

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The emotional scarring that we have allowed women to endure for the sake of "choice" is outrageous.

BS. This is a load of crap. You are implying that carrying a child to term and giving it up or keeping it and trying to care for it is a cake-walk. There's "emotional scarring" no matter how you look at it and it can be worse no matter what choice is made based on how the woman in question makes that choice. Either way, it should be *her* choice. Not yours, and certainly *not* the governments.

Don't believe me? Just look at what Hitler did in Germany.

You just Goodwin'd your own thread. Thank you.

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I dare you to talk to women who have had an abortion and given a child up for adoption and ask them which weighs more heavily on them?

I don't deny that giving a child up for adoption isn't tough, but it's not even 1/100th as bad as having to live with the fact that you child is dead.

Believe me, I know raising a child isn't a cakewalk, I have one and another on the way and hope to have many more. I couldn't be happier.

I don't know who "Goodwin" is, but I think the fact that Hitler went to great lengths to terminate the "undesirables" (the mentally retarded, the elderly who were sick). That was the point I was making.

If Obama has no respect for me at the start of my life, what makes me think that he really cares for me during the rest of it?

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I dare you to talk to women who have had an abortion and given a child up for adoption and ask them which weighs more heavily on them?

I find it amusing that you assume I haven't.

I don't deny that giving a child up for adoption isn't tough, but it's not even 1/100th as bad as having to live with the fact that you child is dead.

Spoken like a true idealist. You cannot possibly claim to know this since you have not experienced it.

I don't know who "Goodwin" is

Internet term. Google it. It refers to killing a topic by presenting a wildly absurd and consistently unrealistic analogy that *anything* today could be compared in the slightest to Hitler or the Nazi regime.

If Obama has no respect for me at the start of my life, what makes me think that he really cares for me during the rest of it?

lmao..

So because he disagrees with you on this issue, he is totally and completely irrelevant and useless to you and society? You do realize, if I can continue your analogy, that it makes you sound just like that person you compared him to?

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