Obama Raises Record $150M In Sept.

Unprecedented One-Month Haul Fuels Democrat's Prolific Ad Spending And Ability To Campaign In More States

(AP)  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.

The campaign released the figure on Sunday, one day before it must file a detailed report of its monthly finances with the Federal Election Commission.

Obama's money is fueling a vast campaign operation in an expanding field of competitive states. It also has underwritten a wave of both national and targeted video advertising unseen before in a presidential contest.

Campaign manager David Plouffe, in an e-mail to supporters Sunday morning, said the campaign had added 632,000 new donors in September, for a total of 3.1 million contributors to the campaign. He said the average donation was $86.

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.

Obama's numbers are possible because he opted out of the public financing system for the fall campaign. McCain, the Republican nominee, chose to participate in the system, which limits him to $84 million for the September-October stretch before the election.

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 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."

Obama had initially promised to accept public financing if McCain did, but changed his mind after setting primary fundraising records. His extraordinary fundraising is bound to set a new standard in politics that could doom the taxpayer-paid system. Many Republicans have begun to second-guess McCain's decision to participate in the program.

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.

Plouffe pointed out that the campaign is now spending resources in West Virginia. Obama running mate Joe Biden was scheduled to campaign in Charleston, W.Va., on Friday and the campaign has secured television advertising in the state for the next two weeks, according to ad data obtained by The Associated Press. Plouffe hinted at further expansion, noting that public opinion polls show the race tightening in Georgia and North Dakota.

As much as Obama raised, he needed a big fundraising month to justify his decision to bypass the public finance system. Financially, he has been competing not only against McCain, but against the GOP, which raised $66 million in September.

The combined Obama and DNC totals for September now give the Democrats a distinct financial advantage going into Election Day, just 16 days away.

[mauriciolope]

It must be ALL those new voters that ACORN registered making donations!! Right???
This is clearly a new disguise that the Obama communist machine devised to cover up donations and at the same time make it look like He is immensely popular!!!
People can''t even pay their mortgages; but they have money to give Barrack!?
In the end the truth will be known and Barrack will be exposed for the Comi He is !!!!!

[dagrandma]

mrcrosby12: I wish you could go back in time too. Apparently that''s where you belong.

[dagrandma]

slayrre007: Barack Obama is BLACK? Geez, I didn''t know that. I just thought he was someone I''d like to vote for because I believe he has better answers to our problems than the competition does.

[dagrandma]

truthpig

Some things I learned long before this election season%u2026

--If you%u2019re an actor, Republicans hate you unless you%u2019re a Republican actor like Arnold.
--I%u2019m not from the south but I don%u2019t hate anyone who is. As a matter of fact, I know a lot of people who aren''t from the south who don''t hate people who are.
--Actually, paying taxes IS patriotic. Forcing individuals to pay taxes at a higher rate than your rich friends is unpatriotic.
--If being %u201Ccool%u201D qualifies you to be president, how do you explain the decidedly un-cool George W. Bush?
--Funny how Obama%u2019s past has been brought up over and over and over again (He%u2019s a Muslim! He%u2019s a terrorist! He%u2019s not a U.S. Citizern!), but if you bring up the past of a Republican you%u2019re accused of only caring about looking into the past of Republicans.
--The media doesn%u2019t pull MY strings. I%u2019m not the one listening to Rush Limbaugh every day.
--I question EVERYTHING and I%u2019m not a racist.

AND

Yes, this country is currently SCREWED and you know what? Barack Obama didn%u2019t do it!

Anyone care to add anything?

[usclimey]

Posted by pelosilover

By the time Jan 20 comes around neocons are going to feel the cold fist of rejection.

[usclimey]

Follow the money it%u2019s most likely coming from foreign sources especially the Middle East. Maybe the news media will investigate how the homeless and poor are donating thousands.

Posted by bern1l at 01:37 AM : Oct 20, 2008

Moron, read the article - average donation $86. That''s only about 1.7 million people. No need for foreigners or fake homeless people to donate thousands. Just lots and lots of people with positive IQ''s.

[slayrre007]

None of this matters. Once Barack Obama, as Commander-In-Chief, is given our countries top military secrets... he will find a way to give the information to his "brothers" in the middle east. This country has lost its identity as Americans in their efforts to prove, even at the risk of threatening the security of this country, that a black man can become elected President. How soon Americans everywhere forget how unprepared for 9/11. Now we are unprepared to accept the realistic threat that the next attack to weaken and destroy America will come from within....that threat is Barack Obama. He will be the catalyst to the fall of America...and American fools who will vote for him will have only themselves to blame.

[formrusmcsgt]

I''ve been in too many campaigns, my friend, not to sense that things are headed our way," McCain said Sunday on Fox News.
----

The man''s delusional.....

[formrusmcsgt]

Many Republicans have begun to second-guess McCain''s decision to participate in the program.
---
Including McCain himself, no doubt.

Accepting public financing which left him eating Obama''s dust badly and the choice of Palin as his running mate show, if nothing else, that McCain''s "judgement", which he''s touted as his strongest asset, isn''t "all that"....

[grammawhamma]

Who is funding all this? Robin Hood or Paul?

[notfooled]

So this is the story the neonut wackjobs have decided to vent their desperation on.

After 8 years of lies, theivery, treachery, spying on Americans and outright criminal war profiteering it''s amazing any of them still have the absolute sheeplelike tendancy to lash out in their ignorance.

I think most of you are suffering from "Beaten Dog Syndrome." You''ve been kicked and stomped on for so long you don''t even expect or desire better.

Come towards the light.

Obama 08

Come towards the light.

[apprxam]

Wow, look at all the scared Americans blaming the Middle Easterners for inteferring in the souvreignty of their political system. I''m sure the United States never did that to them. So why would they do that to us?

You guys are crybabies whinning about the shi-it you''ve either ignored or don''t know about. Read a F-ing history book and then ask, "why do they hate us?" you''ll have the answer, and one thing''s for sure, it ain''t because they hate our freedom(s). You know, the one you Christian Fundamentalist say is ruining the country in the first place. ANd if that were so, which it very well may be, why would they want to stop that process of self destruction.

[Bernie1l]

Follow the money it%u2019s most likely coming from foreign sources especially the Middle East. Maybe the news media will investigate how the homeless and poor are donating thousands.

[hawksprings]

Obama''s been raising a lot of money.
When is he going to spread it around?

[tannerbird]

mrcrosby12 stay in for a while longer its fun.

[wntrpls]

Barack Obama is going to take money from people who produce the jobs and give it to the people who didnt earn it. THATS SOCIALISM.

[tannerbird]

mrcrosby12 it''s to bad bin laden is not on our side he is smarter than the republicans in Washington.

[wntrpls]

Obama says americans are broke sitting around the kitchen table, yet they can set a breaking 150 million dollars raised in one month. CAN YOU SAY MIDDLE EAST DONERS!! They got caught with hamas 30k donation. The Obama Campaign is good at hiding things.

[iowacotton]

The implications for campaign financing in 2012 should be interesting.

[tannerbird]

This election will be a lanslide one way or the other.