The donations started to roll in when the polls closed Tuesday night. And they haven’t let up yet. Hillary sent out a fundraising appeal Wednesday asking us to meet a goal of $3 million in 3 days.
Guys she blew past that in on line contributions, raising $4 million in just 24 hours. So they set a new goal of $6 million in 3 days. Well they blew past that goal too. After re-setting the goal at $7 million by midnight Friday, they’ve already met that new goal as well.
The money’s rolling in and the story tonight is that she’s standing toe to toe with Obama - a guy who’s got the grass-roots, turbo-charged institutional power of email lists that have taken YEARS to build up. John Kerry - MoveOn - Ted Kennedy – Obama’s own list AND a lot of the NetRoots (including our fearless leader Markos and his PAC friends) – all of these folks have opened up their membership email lists for his use in fundraising and getting his message out.
And still Hillary’s been able to raise $7 million in just 48 hours!
Seriously – the deck was stacked against her. Today was supposed to be Obama’s big day - he was supposed to own the news cycle and Hillary’s taken that away from him. Just as she did in New Hampshire with her unexpected win. The past 48 hours has proven that Hillary’s campaign is people powered - this changes everything.
She’s ahead in the popular vote and now we’re seeing this outpouring of support over the Internet. Hillary’s never been the Internet candidate and yet here we are – just 48 hours out from her wins on Super Tuesday, and people are voting with their wallets, putting their faith in to Hillary and her own dedication to this campaign to the tune of $7 million.
A lot of this is coming from folks like me – people who live paycheck to paycheck. Shift workers and union members. Folks who don’t make a lot and can’t afford a Starbucks latte each morning or lunch at Cosi every day. We don't have a lot (go without in many cases) and yet here we are, finding what little we can to help make history.
Stories have been circulating regarding a loan she made of her own money to this effort. Take a look at what ABC reported today...
On Wednesday it was revealed that Hillary Clinton had given her campaign an infusion of $5 million back in January.
Clinton argued today her decision to loan her campaign money should not be seen as a sign that her campaign is in financial trouble.
"We were outraised in January which we took steps immediately to address," she told ABC News' Jake Tapper today.
To me that says she’s in this to win – she’s so dedicated to tackling the job ahead that she’s investing $5 million of her own money in this effort. I like that in a candidate and when she goes up against the goopers in the general election I know she’s going to dig deep to win. She’s putting it all out on the line. And if she can do it then so can the millions of folks like me who support her.
(By the way - this isn’t the first time a candidate’s ponied up their own money. Remember – John Kerry refinanced his home in order to come up with some cash for his run for the White House. And others have loaned their campaigns money as well.)
Now you may have heard rumors that were flying around regarding an offer by her staff. They’re so dedicated to their candidate they offered to forgo their own paychecks in order to help ensure that they were competitive in the upcoming states.
Mark Halperin reported on this earlier today. He posted an update on the fundraising effort, noting that they were up to $6 million and noted that bit about the staff. However! he got part of the story wrong. ABC News has actually done their homework and asked Hillary about this rumor. Here’s what they found out...
After offering on Wednesday to go without paychecks to help save precious campaign resources, senior staff members on Hillary Clinton's campaign are in fact not going without pay during the month of February, ABC News has learned.
"It's not happening," said a source familiar with the situation
The fact that her staff are this dedicated to her and what she’s trying to accomplish here, that they’d give up their income to help make this happen speaks volumes about how special this lady is to them.
And remember – Hillary’s never been seen as someone who’s got a lot of support from the online community. But this $7 million dollars all came in over the Internet guys. I don’t think they’ve ever seen this kind of support before.
More from ABC...
The campaign announced today that it raised more than four million dollars online in the 24 hours after polls closed on Tuesday the biggest single haul in one day ever for the campaign.
"We are gratified for this tremendous outpouring of support," said Clinton Campaign Internet Director Peter Daou.
Looks like they’re already putting that money to good use. According to Halperin, the campaign’s announced that they’re putting up ads in Nebraska today and will hit the air with new ads in Texas & Ohio next week.
And ABC News goes on to report that they’re putting ads up in other states as well...
The Clinton campaign has enough money on hand now to launch television advertising in multiple states.
Ads are going up this week in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., which all vote next Tuesday. The campaign is also advertising in Washington state, Maine, and to a lesser degree in Nebraska. Those three states vote this weekend.
Next week the campaign will begin advertising for upcoming battles in Wisconsin, Texas and Ohio.
By the way guys – the 35,000 folks who’ve contributed on line? Those were new donors. People who’ve never given to Hillary’s campaign before.
Must be all those voters who made up their minds on Tuesday – they broke overwhelmingly to Hillary on Super Tuesday in 12 of the 14 states where MSNBC conducted exit polls (AL, AZ, AR, CA, CT, DE, GA, IL, MA, NJ, NM, NY & OK). Not baaaaad! Those are some pretty big states & will be important come the general election.
Ok so back to those ads she’s starting to put up... thought I’d close out by posting them so everyone can get a look ...
HAPPEN – Washington State – talks about her universal health care plan...
FALLING THROUGH – Maine – slamming Bush on the economy...
KERREY – Nebraska...
So the fight goes on folks. I know we have an uphill battle here in Maryland but we’ve been working for a year now to develop support for Hillary here, and I really do think we have a shot at pulling off an upset next Tuesday.
Stay tuned ;o)
Now if you want to be a part of this history making campaign please consider joining me in contributing to the cause.
DONATE HERE!
U P D A T E
After you send Hillary a few bucks, please come and join our new Yahoo Discussion group - Hillary's Voice.
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Thanks!
UPDATE 2
Wow! I really want to thank everyone who's contributed through my HillRaisers link so far. You guys have really stepped up to the plate tonight!
Keep up the great work you guys - if you haven't contributed yet or in a while and you're serious about seeing Hillary take the oath of office next January PLEASE give whatever you can!
Together we'll help make this dream a reality!