< Obama's Fundraising Could Re-Draw Election Map

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Heard on All Things Considered

July 17, 2008 - MICHELE NORRIS, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

And I'm Robert Siegel.

First this hour, the race for the money to win the presidency. It's 52 to 22. If you measure the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain by their June fundraising numbers - those are just out today - 52 million for Obama, 22 million for McCain.

But McCain is not as far behind as it might seem, as NPR's Peter Overby reports.

PETER OVERBY: This spring, it seemed as if Obama's money magic might be evaporating. He raised $55 million in February, a record for American politics. But then, the monthly totals started slipping to 43 million, 31 million, down to $22 million in May. And 22 million is what Republican John McCain raised in June. That was his best month ever.

But now, Obama's campaign says it raked in more than twice as much as McCain last month. Still, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe this week made a fundraising pitch that was e-mailed to the campaign faithful.

Mr. DAVID PLOUFFE (Campaign Manager, Barack Obama for President Campaign): So, just know that we treasure and value your relationship with us, what you've already done for the campaign. But the only way we're going to be successful over these next 15 weeks is if you get involved at a historic level to allow us to win.

OVERBY: Getting involved at a historic level, of course, is campaign-speak for giving more money.

Obama's record-setting fundraising gives him the chance to break out of the traditional battleground states. Take Virginia, a state that last voted Democratic for president in 1964. In 2005, voters elected a Democratic governor and in '06, a Democratic senator. Now, Obama is opening 20 offices there. In Fairfax County, with more voters than any place else in Virginia, they'll have a staffer working in each county supervisor's district.

Democrat Gerry Connolly, the Fairfax County board chairman, is running for Congress this year for an open Republican seat.

Mr. GERRY CONNOLLY (Chairman, Fairfax County Board): Clearly, the Obama campaign has made a strategic decision to invest heavily in Virginia and to put it in play, and that can only be a good thing for all the rest of us.

OVERBY: Connolly says his campaign has teamed up with Obama's and with the campaign of Senate candidate Mark Warner, a former governor.

Mr. MARK WARNER (Former Democratic Governor, Virginia): We already are doing coordinated canvassing, so that's already started. The energy and enthusiasm level among the grassroots and various pockets of the electorate is about as fever pitch as anything I remember in 30 years of political involvement in Northern Virginia.

OVERBY: But despite some early expectations, Obama isn't exactly burying McCain in money. One reason: the national party committees play a key role in the fall campaigns. When you add in the party revenues, McCain has a cash-on-hand advantage of about $3 million.

James Campbell, head of the political science department at the University of Buffalo, puts Obama's June fundraising in perspective.

Mr. JAMES CAMPBELL (Chairman, Political Science Department, University of Buffalo): Even though 50 million is a lot of money, it doesn't tilt things much in his direction when you figure what the Republican Party has been collecting as well.

OVERBY: And one more twist: McCain is taking public funds for the fall, $84 million. So after Labor Day, he won't need to do any fundraising.

But Obama is using private funds, so he'll need to achieve a series of $50 million months just to keep up the pace.

Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.

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