Given how strong Obama's grassroots fundraising support has been so far this campaign, these numbers will probably not come as any surprise. But they are still, by any standard, incredible - and their implications for the Mar. 4 primaries are worth noting.
Let's start with the fact that in January Obama raised $32 million - a shade over $1 million a day. Now there is no reason to suppose that the same set of old donors couldn't repeat that effort in February - some may be tapped out now, but the need and the excitement motivating the remainder have grown as well. So let's use that as a floor: the donor base that had been created by the end of January will contribute another $32 million in February - $1 million a day.
Next: the campaign continues to add new donors. Here are some tallies from the past few nights of donors in 2008:
Feb. 13th, 9pm: 431,400
Feb. 14th, 9pm: 440,500
Feb. 15th, 9pm: 446,800
It would appear that the campaign is adding between 6,000 and 9,000 new donors per day. Let's call it an average of 7,500.
Now what is the average size of a first donation? I've seen varying estimates of this figure, ranging from $25 to $60. Let's say it's $40. That means that each day, the Obama camp is pulling in $300,000 from new donors alone.
Finally, we have to consider repeat donations by first time donors. One secure figure I've seen indicates that the average Obama donor contributes $250 a quarter - in other words, the average donation may be about $40, but then this is typically followed up by repeat donations, at a rate of $80 a month. So, to be conservative, let's add another $30 to that initial donation; this yields an additional $225,000 per day.
In other words: during the month of February, Obama should average $1.5 million per day, putting his February total easily in the range of:
$45 million.
Now this is money they can definitely use: it has been estimated that Texas and Ohio will cost $9+ million a piece in advertising. So the Obama camp should have no problems filling the airwaves in those two crucial states, boosting his name recognition and making voters comfortable with his candidacy. And he will still have $25 million for ads in WI, HI, VT, and RI - note that Obama has already started ads in the latter two states - plus all the ground organizing they could hope to have in place.
Hillary, by contrast, won't be struggling - she'll probably pull in $30 million in February - but everything will have to go to TX and Ohio, ads and ground.
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One final observation: if Obama hits $45 million this month, that will probably constitute some sort of limit, in that an extra $10 million isn't necessarily going to give him an additional $10 million worth of electoral advantage going forward. So while it is important to keep the money coming in, the real important thing for Obama supporters to contribute now is Time and Effort. I think this explains why the counter on the Obama homepage no longer measures contributions in $, but in the sheer number of contributors - it's a recognition of the fact that the most important thing right now is the number of dedicated and invested supporters, rather than the sheer amount of moolah flowing in.