WASHINGTON – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised more than $150 million in September, a stunning and unprecedented eruption of political giving that has given him a wide spending advantage over rival John McCain.
Obama’s monthly figure pushed his total fundraising to $605 million. No presidential candidate has ever run such an expensive campaign. His campaign raised $65 million in August, his previous best.
The Democratic National Committee, moments later, announced that it raised $49.9 million and had $27.5 million in the bank at the start of October. The party has been raising money through joint fundraising events with Obama and can use the money to assist his candidacy.
Unlike the McCain campaign, which has made its complete donor database available online, the Obama campaign has not identified donors for nearly half the amount he has raised, according to the Center for Responsive Politics
It is the largest pool of unidentified money that has ever flooded into the U.S. election system, before or after the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reforms of 2002.
Obama’s numbers are possible because although he and Senator McCain both promised to use the public funding guidelines, Barack Obama went back on his word and opted out. McCain, the Republican nominee, chose to keep his word and participate in the system, which limits him to $84 million for the September-October stretch before the election.
Allegations have been made that the Obama campaign has accepted millions of dollars of foreign money including $33,000 from the Islamic Jihad. Barack has said he returned the money but there is no record on the books showing a return and the group that made the donation says they have not received it.
Foreign donations to American Politicians are illegal. Obama’s books show most of the donations end in cents. This is important because the vast majority of donations are made in whole numbers. McCains accounting of donations to his campaign show hundreds of whole number donations to one ending in cents. Foreign money donated would be exchanged in the transaction to American dollars by the bank which would account for the majority of his donations ending in cents.
Simply put, if you decided to write a check it would likely be written for $20, $60 or $100 as opposed to $21.43, $63.81 or $104.93.
Still the Obama Camp says this staggering amount of money is raised a few dollars at a time by concerned citizens.
“The overall numbers obviously are impressive,” Plouffe said in a campaign video. “But it’s what’s beneath the numbers in terms of average Americans who have had enough, who want a change and who are really fueling this campaign.”
The jihad donations were hardly the only bloody red flags.
Obama’s overseas (foreign) contributors are making multiple small donations, ostensibly in their own names, over a period of a few days, some are aggregating in excess of the maximums when all added up. The countries and major cities from which contributions have been received France, Virgin Islands, Planegg, Vienna, Hague, Madrid, London, AE, IR, Geneva,Tokyo, Bangkok, Turin, Paris, Munich, Madrid, Roma, Zurich, Netherlands, Moscow, Ireland, Milan, Singapore, Bejing, Switzerland, Toronto, Vancouver, La Creche, Pak Chong, Dublin, Panama, Krabi, Berlin, Geneva, Buenos Aires, Prague, Nagoya, Budapest, Barcelona, Sweden, Taipei, Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Zurich, Ragusa, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Uganda, Mumbia, Nagoya, Tunis, Zacatecas, St, Croix, Mississauga, Laval, Nadi, Behchoko, Ragusa, DUBIA, Lima, Copenhagen, Quaama, Jeddah, Kabul, Cairo, Nassau, Luxembourg, etc,etc,etc.
With his money, and a favorable political wind at his back, Obama has secured his foothold in states that have voted for Democratic presidential candidates in the past. But he has also been able to expand the contest to reliably Republican states, forcing McCain and the Republican Party to spend their money defensively.
The combined Obama and DNC totals for September now give the Democrats a distinct financial advantage going into Election Day, just 16 days away.
Ken Maddox of OneAngryMan.com
