Clinton Fund-raisers: General Election Donors Need Not Apply
RALEIGH, NC -- If you're a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton's presidential bid and you'd like to attend a fund-raiser, your money may no longer be good there.
According to an e-mail sent to New York supporters to join Clinton and daughter Chelsea at a "Mother's Day Celebration"/fund-raiser, "Only contributions for the primary election are accepted" at that event.
Part of Clinton's fund-raising troubles has been that many of her donors have already met the cap on donations for her primary campaign. Federal election laws limit donations to candidates during the nomination contest to $2,300 per person. If you've already met that number, you can only donate money for the candidate's general election fund (another $2,300 for a $4,600 total limit), a fund that is only touched if the candidate wins the nomination.
One reason why Obama has fared better in raising money has been his campaign's early focus on targeting younger voters by hosting low-dollar fundraisers. That move helped Obama go back at those same donors - which turned out to be a much larger pool than expected - when he was looking to raise more cash. Most of Clinton's contributions were in larger numbers by fewer donors, although just hours after winning the Pennsylvania primary, Clinton raised upwards of $10 million from 60,000 new donors.
Since both Clinton and Obama are engaged in an unusually long and highly contested nomination contest, money has become the lifeblood of the campaign and without the necessary primary cash, the campaign would likely be over.
Clinton is facing pressure not only to stay competitive in the money race but to try to raise as much money as her opponent, who has outraised and outspent her in every major contest since Feb. 5. Meeting that expectation with donors who have already maxed out has not only proven difficult for Clinton, but has required her to spend more of her time trying to get the money in a variety of low-dollar events.
Last night, Clinton held a low-dollar fund-raiser in Charlotte, N.C. with 6,000 supporters in attendance. Before that, she hosted another low-dollar fundraiser and a mid- to high-dollar fundraiser at a private home. All-in-all, Clinton raised roughly $300,000 out of those three events, not exactly a home run in terms of raking in cash. The financial yield from those three events paled in comparison to other high dollar fund-raisers where Clinton has netted as much as $2 million in one stop.
It is clear by the invitation to the Mother's Day fundraiser that Clinton is struggling to raise enough money for the primary and in the coming weeks she will need to continue to comb through the lists of potential Democratic donors for those who haven't maxed out in hopes that they can come to her aid and help sustain her bid for the White House.