Josh Levy noted yesterday and Jose Antonio Vargas picks up today that Barack Obama has already received online donations from more than 100,000 people since the beginning of the year. 50,000 per week! Extremely impressive, and a demonstration of what a popular rather than a niche candidate can do when his supporters get fired up (sorry Paulites, that he’s stealing your online oomph, though congratulations on beating both Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani in Michigan). As Josh puts it,
One thing’s for sure, though: Obama’s on fire, possibly raising more money from more people online than he or anyone else every has before.
And, as we have noted repeatedly, small online donors are extra-valuable because a campaign can tap them over and over without pushing them over the per-donor limit. Also note the end of Jose’s piece, in which he quotes an Obama supporter who started out supporting him online and is now a regional field organizer in California. That’s some online-offline conversion (or to use a Josh Levy neologism that is painful even to type, “onffline” activism).
In other fundraising news, note that Google Checkout has expanded beyond nonprofit fundraising and is now raising money for candidates, though Josh observes that it doesn’t appear to file donation reports with the FEC for campaigns, as ActBlue and SlateCard do.
– cpd