BREAKING: Obama counter

Yesterday I posted a diary about how Obama's new donors had slowed to a trickle. "Obama in big trouble!! ($ is drying up)" I admit it was an alarmist title to get people to read the rest of the diary but if what I had observed was true Obama would have had a problem. Now I am starting to think that the Obama camp is playing with the numbers on the counter.

Some had speculated that the counter isn't working correctly or that the Obama campaign is purposely controlling when #'s are added so they can time the announcement of the 1.5 million mark to a time that is most advantages for them but no-one presented any proof of this. (I have a call into a contact with inside knowledge but haven't gotten word back)

But now it seem something is going on. In the 24hrs period since my first post Obama had added only 430 new donors. In the time since I started writing/rewriting this diary (30 mins) the counter has gone up almost 4,000 new donors. I have to post this quick since the numbers keep changing.

Day Time                      Number of Donors        New Added     Time Period
4/29/08-1:30 PM        1,445,343
4/30/08-1:58 PM        1,445,773                        430                     24hr
4/30/08-6:31 PM        1,446,610                        837                     4 hr 33 min
4/30/08-6:42 PM        1,447,311                        701                             11 min
4/30/08-6:53 PM        1,448,518                        1,207                         11 min
4/30/08-7:02 PM        1,449,628                        1,110                           9 min
4/30/08-7:16 PM        1,450,623                         995                            14 min*

Times are EDT

So what do you think - is the Obama camp play with the numbers or what??

Authors Note:I am Dyslexic, it is a battle (which I often lose) to write without error. Thanks in advance for putting up with my mistakes - and providing corrections in the comments

*Updated since original post

•  Tip/Flame

  by jmorton on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:17:19 PM PDT

  •  The simplest explanation may be Wright.

    It may simply be that, 24 hours into his rejection of Wright, people are ready to throw money again.

    by Melody Townsel on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:22:34 PM PDT

    •  Real Obama supporters never stopped

      giving, even during the Wright flap, parts one, two, and however many that come in the future.  If anything, it's just a glitch in the computer.  Plus, as I mention below, they're pushing for a big end to April, a huge email/matching/poster/magnet campaign.

      by PittsburghPete on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:26:18 PM PDT

      •  I believe the counter only registers the total

        number of donors, so it as the number climbs, it reflects the number of new donors, not the number of total contributions. Many of us are giving on a regular basis, but that won't show up on the counter.

        by rontun on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:30:36 PM PDT

      •  maybe true

        but remember the counter's for new donors, who may not be as strong/committed (at least initially)

        by omegajew on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:30:58 PM PDT

      •  Pony-up for Obama!

        Saw the Hillbilly riding around in a big ass truck on the news so I knew it was time to get the card out again! OK..everyone pony-up for Obama! Let's end this mess. Maybe they can ride her home in the big ass truck!! Bye-Bye, Hill and Bill

        by peacefully on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 05:50:51 PM PDT

    •  Or maybe they are just verifying info

      Maybe they are just taking the time to verify that these are indeed new donors and that their payment went through.

      by dawnt on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:26:30 PM PDT

      •  Yeah

        This is most likely it. They do have some sort system for processing donations. It isn't completely automatic and they do verify each donation somehow to make sure you aren't over your limit.

        by jenontheshore on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:43:34 PM PDT

  •  Tips for your tag line!

    by Naniboujou on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:23:06 PM PDT

•  Maybe the counter is dyslexic too.

  by ZenTrainer on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:19:51 PM PDT

•  Somebody did something like this..

  for Hillary's counter...it didn't move for 3 days.

  by David Kroning on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:19:54 PM PDT

  •  Her counter only moves backwards.

    by darthstar on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:29:33 PM PDT

  •  Her counters were under sniper fire... nt

    by Common Raven on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 05:37:26 PM PDT

•  Big email campaign...

  which resulted in my donating (matched by Caroline K. of California), my mom donation, matched by someone, and my father donating, matched by someone.  The campaign knows what it's doing.  He'll post big numbers again this month.

  by PittsburghPete on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:20:31 PM PDT

  •  They're also giving out car magnates today

    to new donors. I know that brought a lot of people in.

    by dawnt on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:27:48 PM PDT

    •  I want Henry Ford!

      They're also giving out car magnates today

      So I can give him what-for.

      (sorry)

      by JoeW on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:33:14 PM PDT

      •  Ok, now that's an embarrassing typo! lol n/t

        by dawnt on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:35:34 PM PDT

        •  No! A great one.

          I've made some real whoppers here, much to the joy and creativity of my fellow kossacks.

          Life would be pretty dull if we all spelled perfectly all the time.

          by JoeW on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:51:34 PM PDT

  •  I think you're right. The big end of month blitz

    This evening I had a match within less than a minute of donating.  (Last time it took a couple of days.)  My matching donor said he'd decided he didn't want to donate again until the GE, but my message convinced him to kick in some more.  Woot!

    by houyhnhnm on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:44:53 PM PDT

•  The counter has never worked for me.

  When people were touting the great numbers posted on the counter I watched them roll the numbers back. I resent the counter. I wish the counter would go away. Any counter that rolls forward and back for no discernible reason is a faulty and worthless counter.

  Did I mention I resent the counter?

  by mentaldebris on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:20:39 PM PDT

  •  So, you denounce and reject the counter?

    by dlh77489 on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:39:26 PM PDT

    •  Yes. I also condemn the counter.;) n/t

      by mentaldebris on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:26:56 PM PDT

•  I have no idea but yesterday my husband pledged

  (before that our donations were made in my name) and I didn't notice the total changing.  Maybe they have to check out credit cards first?  Although I don't think that bad credit cards would stop Hillary from counting the donation.

  by Leftovers on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:21:37 PM PDT

  •  They don't just check the credit cards.

    They check the donors, too.

    A couple of weeks ago somebody Diaried how his donation was returned by the Obama campaign - because he worked for some outfit that did lobbying.

    It was a good thing that the money was returned - the Diarist wasn't complaining.

    But that kind of thoroughness takes time.

    by Jaime Frontero on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:36:57 PM PDT

•  Maybe, unbeknownst to the campaign

  the contract for the counter has been taken over by Diebold?

  by A Mad Mad World on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:22:14 PM PDT

•  Could be any number of reasons

  They screen out donations from lobbyists. That alone would delay the counter -- you can only automate that kind of thing so much.

  by maxomai on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:25:04 PM PDT

  •  I don't think this a big factor

    You have to sign a form or check a box saying you're not a registered federal lobbyist.

    Trust me, registered lobbyists are not going to be trying to donate.  They understand the FEC and they understand perjury.

    by Anarchofascist on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:29:26 PM PDT

•  It could be.

  But I got two mailings today, one a match offer, so having a big bump after it was sent would probably gap the numbers some.

  by choochmac on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:25:49 PM PDT

•  It's the last day of the month so lots are

  donating. I just sent in a donation on the car magnet email. Woot (I love car magnets)

  by RokkiBlueboa on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:25:50 PM PDT

•  Corrections?

  Someone suggested that they back out either previous donors and/or lobbyists which sends the counter backwards?

  by My mom is my hero on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:26:21 PM PDT

•  OK, you don't understand perception.

  Obama already HAS 1.5 donors.

  The campaign always slows down this counter before the date.

  I doubt seriously, they are in trouble.

  Not in spending money on ads through June 3rd.

  The one not raising money is Hillary Clinton.  Ask what her numbers are, if you can trust them.

  by icebergslim on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:26:31 PM PDT

  •  Hillary's numbers are HUGE! Okay? HUGE!

    That's all you need to know and if you have to ask what HUGE means, you obviously wouldn't get it anyway.

    by rontun on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:34:08 PM PDT

    •  If the numbers were HUGE, it would be

      reflective in her campaign spending.  It is not, though.  Plus, let's not forget her debt which is 15M and RISING.

      by icebergslim on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 06:57:44 PM PDT

      •  Her campaign spending is HUGE! Okay?

        Just because she doesn't pay her bills and stiffs a bunch of small businesses, a few school districts and town governments doesn't mean she isn't spending. It just means her credit card balance is HUGE!

        by rontun on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 07:54:29 PM PDT

•  I think you're reading too much into it.

  The counter is just an image on the web page. It could very easily be getting cached by your browser, or on their server.

  I wouldn't worry about it not updating as fast as you'd like, chances are that's all that's happening.

  by Insect Messiah on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:26:46 PM PDT

•  The counter is not official

  They definitely mess around with it.  I wouldn't be surprised if they were waiting to magically hit 1,500,000 at 11:59 PM tonight.

  by smash artist on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:26:48 PM PDT

  •  I got an email from the campaign a few

    days ago that dropped the 1.5M number and said that they were already there...

    Either it was factually wrong or they are holding back on reporting their real donor numbers on the website.

    by Kab ibn al Ashraf on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 06:15:40 PM PDT

•  These counters are only as accurate as the latest

  update.

  by lordcopper on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:27:06 PM PDT

•  databases are funny things

  They don't require a conspiracy to be slow in refreshing.  If the database is checking every donation for whether it is a new donor, whether that donation is good for the primary and/or general election, eligibility of the donation, etc., it takes a little bit of time to update with 1.5 million records. Then you get records temporarily in never never land until somebody discovers the faulty record and cleans it up.  There could also be large groups of donations updated in a batch all at once.  This is not real-time stuff.

  by clambake on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:27:59 PM PDT

  •  I suspect it's something like that...

    There are probably multiple applications updating the counter. If the webpage was broken, but mail-in donations were still being processed properly, that would explain this.

    Clambake... love your name. :)

    by prikaza on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:32:27 PM PDT

    •  A nickname from my time in the Peace Corps

      by clambake on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 05:46:40 PM PDT

•  we saw

  that one night in february when he made over $10 million that the counters aren't very accurate.  i think the information comes from different servers so different people see different numbers at the same time.  

  but really, i don't think this matters at all, and hardly anyone is paying attention to it.  as long as obama meets his goal it's all good.

  by fhqwgads on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:30:12 PM PDT

•  The counter always readjusts periodically

  I believe this is due to the fact that they have to confirm which are first-time donations and which are repeat donations from previous donors.

  During the original 1-million drive, the counter would periodically adjust down and the climb again. They are very careful to be accurate. If they're getting a massive influx of new donations, it may take longer to compare and vet the persons donating.

  I know that my $25 pledge to match a new donor was met within 5 minutes, so use the matching donor link!

  (If you're not logged in to the my.barackobama site, it may come up as though you're a new donor. Make sure you log in and then go to the link to match a new one.)

  by Saska on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:30:32 PM PDT

•  What's the surprise?

  It's the last day of the month and the campaign has been pushing hard (I think I received 3 emails in the past 2 days) to get contributions in before the midnight reporting deadline.  

  by Beauregard on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:39:40 PM PDT

•  Payday?

  I give every payday.  End of the month is payday for a lot of people, no?

  by DrJeremy on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:39:42 PM PDT

•  I think...

  Just maybe, we are being a bit elitist here.  Not everybody donates online.  Some people donate at events and some people actually use snail-mail.  It all depends on when someone does the order entry.

  by RichM on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:49:24 PM PDT

•  Oh the sacrifice

  Just made another Obama donation - how could I not, with the promise that someone would match it???
  The sacrifice from the subject line is that I decided to buy generic (horrors!) cereal so I could save a little bit to donate.
  On the plus side, I do enjoy the Malt O' Meal "Golden Puffs" and it reminds me of an episode of Rosanne where she takes her kids to the store.  They look on in horror as she buys the generic cereal "Mom, we usually get the other stuff!" and Rosanne says "no, I just saved the box and have been filling it up with this."

  PA FOR OBAMA!!!

  by I teach music on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:50:13 PM PDT

  •  Some malt-o-meals

    are rated best buy by Consumer reports, a bit cheaper than the main brand and just as good.  I have Kroger chain here, and their shredded wheat is the same, think the same company private-labels it.

    by Losty on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 05:04:49 PM PDT

•  We donated more money

  The campaign just send out an email request for money. I, like others, donated more money which allowed them to match that with a new donor. That's why the numbers are going up so quickly. So your point is what?

  by 1406Lake on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:50:38 PM PDT

•  Power to the Procrastinators!

  All along I had planned to make my donation today. I did and the matching donor came up immediately.

  Why do today what you can put off til, um, as late as possible.

  by lightningstrikes on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 04:59:34 PM PDT

•  You can't fake ads

  Obama is getting the funding, and he not taking money from lobbyists if that is what you are implying.

  by Sam Wise Gingy on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 05:05:47 PM PDT

•  Couple of grand per minute!

  sounds pretty healthy to me, can’t be far off what Bill earns doing his smash n’ grab the cash speeches. They may even be able to cobble together enough for a relaxing half-hour with one of Spitzer's gals soon ;)

  by Dirk Thrust on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 05:09:34 PM PDT

•  Did he have an event today?

  Has he had a rally or speech or any other publicity event around the times you are looking at?   Could be he gets a bunch of new donors after a town hall meeting or a rally / event of some sort?  Would be interesting certainly to watch the counter in the six hours after a rally / town hall meeting and see what happens.

  by alouw1 on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 05:13:01 PM PDT

•  E-mails urging donors

  Received 4/29

  Make a donation of $15 or more before midnight on Wednesday, April 30th, and receive a limited edition Vote for Change car magnet:

  https://donate.barackobama.com/...

  Received 4/30

  Make a donation of $25 today to help us fight this two-front battle and show our strength before tonight's deadline:

  https://donate.barackobama.com/...

  If you make a contribution before midnight tonight, a fellow supporter -- who has already donated in April -- will match your gift and double your impact.

  by Catte Nappe on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 05:43:59 PM PDT

  •  Yep, major e-mail campaigns today.

    They were enough to convince me to donate....

    Twice. :)

    Donated once this morning, then when I got another e-mail asking for a donation, with Obama's latest TV ad in it, I liked the ad so much I donated again.

    by pointsoflight on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 06:31:33 PM PDT

    •  Different approach at our house LOL

      I went in for the $15 magnet deal, and hesitantly told my husband of my "splurge". He said - just $15?? and insisted on going in on the $25 match. So the campaign just got two new donors (and $40 + $25)

      by Catte Nappe on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 07:27:38 PM PDT

•  I just kicked in (another) $25.01

  And immediately had a match. How do they do that so fast? :o)

  C'mon folks, let's blow the doors off this sucker!!!

  by Bule Betawi on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 05:48:27 PM PDT

•  I bet rebates/refunds came in the mail...

  And people donated.  Also Obama finally throwing Wright under the bus.

  by SeaChange on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 06:07:35 PM PDT

•  Since I've not yet been taken off Barack Obama's

  e-mail list after my e-mail request last night (I figure it will take a few days; took Kerry about 19 months) I got today a reminder that today is month end and making a pitch for donations before the day ends.  So I suspect that this is why.  Not to mention that some people get paid on the 15th and 30th of every month...............

  by shanikka on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 06:32:01 PM PDT

•  Well

  I better double up then!

  by jazmen8 on Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 08:30:19 PM PDT