Quarter one ended up with much fanfare at the huge totals Democrats in general, and especially Hillary and Obama had raked up. To their credit, both Hillary and Obama smashed records and came up with innovative ways to do it. The totals for that quarter ended somewhere close to this, forgive me if I barely miss I am doing this from memory:
Obama: 27 mil
Clinton: 26 mil
Edwards: 14 mil
That was actually very strong by all candidates. That quarter ended at the end of March, and the Rasmussen tracking poll which I personally consider the most accurate on Apr. 9, 2007 had the national poll like this:
Hillary: 34%
Obama: 29%
Edwards: 15%
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...
Now, the second quarter ended at the end of June. Again to their credit Hillary and Obama dominated in fundraising. Again I am taking these numbers from memory, so don't flame me too much if I am a little off. It ended close to this:
Obama: 32.5 mil
Hillary: 27 mil
Edwards: 9 mil
On July 2, 2007 the Rasmussen tracking poll had the race at:
Hillary: 39%
Obama: 26%
Edwards 13%
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...
The last link you must scroll down and it is in the headlines. I couldn't get the poll from that day to come up when I clicked the story, today's numbers did. The numbers are in the headline however.
Now, lets skip forward to today, and some of the numbers that have come out. Obama again has done very well and from what I am reading will have 19 to 20 mil. for the quarter. Although I haven't seen her numbers yet, It is probably safe to assume that since they have been so close in the other quarters that Hillary's numbers will be somewhere in the neighborhood of Obama's. John Edwards raised 7 mil. Now, lets look at the numbers from today's Rasmussen poll:
Hillary: 44%
Obama: 22%
Edwards: 15%
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...
While Hillary has emerged as the clear frontrunner and has been in the national polls for some time, I think this comes more from name recognition than raising huge funds. In Obama's case it seems that the money has been a curse to him, because he seems to dip in the polls even with raising the huge money every quarter. Edwards admittedly hasn't been able to raise as much as Clinton and Obama, but notice that his polls have either remained steady or actually risen even after not raising as much money. Many of the Rasmussen national polls in the last few weeks have had him within the margin of error of being tied in the national poll for second place with Obama.
I hope this shows that maybe as Americans as a whole we are beginning to get past money, and thinking that it is the basis to judge a candidate upon. Sure, money is needed but I put a lot more stock in who has the best plans and vision for our country. That was cemented in me after working for Eric Streit in the primary of the first district of Kentucky Congressional race last year. He definately had the ideas, the passion and best of all the want-to to make life better for his neighbors. Money was the only obstacle, and should not have been.
I believe that Edwards is the candidate that has the most to offer out of the current field, and is showing that you don't have to have the biggest bank account to run a solid race. I hope everyone can see in the current environment we need that desperately, not just on a national level, but in Congressional and Senate and state races too. It just shouldn't boil down to who has the biggest bank account on election day if we care about true Democracy.
So while huge fundraising numbers have bought plenty of good press, and awe and admiration, I just hope that they realize it might not neccessarily buy them the nomination this time around. I sure hope it can't!!
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