Once again, Barack Obama managed to bring in some truly amazing money in April:
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., hauled in $31.9 million in April (including $600,000 for the general election) to continue his battle for the Democratic nomination against Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, ABC news was first to report tonight. Obama out-raised Clinton — who raised close to $22 million — by almost $10 million.
(…)
Camp Obama proves (again) that big money comes in small packages. It’s been a pattern since last year but the numbers are still impressive: 1.475 million total donors overall making 2.93 million contributions. The average contribution is $91.
The clicks come in small waves: 94% of the contributions to Obama’s effort were under $200, 93% of contributions were $100 or less, 77% were $50 or less, and 52% were $25 or less.
These are, as Justin Gardner notes, numbers that any candidate would kill for not only because the money itself helps finance the campaign, but because it shows that the Obama campaign still has a tremendous amount of energized, grassroots support out there.
Hilary Clinton meanwhile, raised $ 22 million last month, which would be a respectable number if it weren’t for the fact that the campaign is falling further into debt:
Clinton’s campaign debt has now soared to nearly $31 million, according to numbers crunched early this morning by The Times’ campaign finance guru, Dan Morain.
She added another $9.5 million in unpaid bills to venders this past month alone, pushing her total debt to venders and herself to the new astronomical figure, about a 50% debt increase in one month.
According to a campaign release put out Tuesday evening as election returns revealed her big win in Kentucky and loss in Oregon, Clinton raised “approximately $22 million” from other people in April. The release also touted that $10 million had poured in within 48 hours of another lopsided Clinton victory over Obama, that one in Pennsylvania, and said it was the second best fundraising month of her entire campaign.
But the number collected is actually closer to $21 million and the release also neglected to mention that she spent $28.9 million, nearly $8 million more than she took in. She used personal loans to make up part of the difference. She also delayed payments to consultants. Including the $9.5 million in unpaid bills from April, she owes consultants and other venders $19.5 million.
Not to mention the total $11.4 million she has loaned herself.
Well, I will say this much for Hillary, she’s very good at spending money she doesn’t have and stiffing people who’ve provided services to her.
Just like the government.
