Obama Raises a Record $66 Million in a Month

Barack Obama raised $66 million in August, setting a record as the largest amount ever raised by any presidential candidate in a single month. He also attracted 500,000 first time donors to his cause.

The record-setting figures and particularly the new supporters who can contribute again before Election Day were crucial for Mr. Obama, who was heading into the general election as the first major-party candidate to forgo public financing. The campaign amassed its millions of dollars through an aggressive Internet drive, by attracting some of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s donors and as concerns increased over a tightening contest.

David Plouffe, the Obama campaign manager, said more than 2.5 million people had contributed since the race began.

“The 500,000 new donors to the Obama campaign demonstrate just how strongly the American people are looking to kick the special interests out and change Washington,” Mr. Plouffe said in an e-mail message on Sunday.

It is pleasing to read this at a time when, astonishingly in my view, McCain and Palin lead in the polls.

Quite what some Americans see in this pair is utterly lost on me. They have lied to such a shocking extent that even Karl Rove is having to admit as much in public, so I take some comfort from the fact that Obama continues to break records and obviously still has massive support with the US.

The world is crying out for him to be elected and for the US to retake her position of leader of the free world through what Clinton called, "the power of her example rather than the example of her power."

A McCain presidency would be a disaster, not only for the US, but for all the rest of us who have tired of the kind of Bush "My Way or the Highway" international diplomacy.

There is much to be sorted and, if the last eight years have taught us anything, it is that the US demanding that others do what they say and not what they do has been spectacularly unsuccessful.

McCain, from his every utterance, promises more of the same and Palin doesn't know enough about international affairs to actually have an opinion.

Obama represents our greatest chance of repairing the damage inflicted on the planet by the Bush presidency and the fact that money continues to pour towards him gives me hope at a time when I would otherwise be in despair.

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Tags: Obama, fundraising, records, $66 million, US election 2008