If you read the headlines, "Clinton's fundraising reaches historic heights", "Hillary Clinton sets fundraising record", "Clinton shatters fundraising records," you'd think that Hillary was well on her way to wrapping this thing up.Not so fast. Patrick Ruffini is reporting today that Obama will come in at $22 million to Hillary's $26 million (Hillary also transferred another $11 million from her Senate campaign). That takes a lot of wind out of the sails of Team Clinton. They are not sweeping the field and a majority of fundraising dollars raised in Democratic circles are going to folks who are Not Hillary. Take John Edwards, for example, who Patrick reports will raise about $14 million.
Days before the Elizabeth Edwards announcement, I had all but written Edwards off based in part on his online fundraising numbers. Those numbers have since more than doubled, rising by $1.5 - 2 million. It's clear that Edwards has retained a vast network of traditional donors that belies his recent focus on becoming a labor/netroots darling (24 social networks... oy). Considering the breathless Hillary/Barack coverage over the last two months, Edwards has officially regained the mantle of sleeper.The Clinton camp will try to get as much mileage as they can out of the numbers. It really is a record, but Edwards looks like the real winner here. Unlike Barack and Hillary, he's not getting much Hollywood love, he's been buffeted by a botched blogger hire and focus on his big house, and most recently cancer has struck close to home. Not the best quarter, to say the least, and yet he still has $14 million. John Edwards is for real.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 2)
1. Liberal bloggers have launched an attack Obama and Hillary, which gives Edwards the opportunity to seize ground on the left... Read about it on http://www.solidpolitics.com
Bill at 8:27AM on Apr 2nd 2007
2. She is just another political parasite in the Clinton Stable- still trying to prove her "value" to her father
Scott Pilcher at 9:10AM on Apr 2nd 2007
3. Hillary does not have a lock although in states like Oregon OBAM and EDWARDS Democrats are disenfranchised by the late Primary Date. Votes for OBAMA and EDWARDS would make a real difference if we moved the Oregon Primary to Feb 5 However the Legislature and the Democratic Party of Oregon (DPO) leadership are not supporting the move. Why are they stalling? Is it because they sold out to Hillary. She would lose in Oregon to both Obama and Edwards big time. If Oregonians want their votes to count let the DPO and the Legislature know how you feel. NOW!!! They both have web sites.
dlandis888 at 9:13AM on Apr 2nd 2007
4. John Edwards is the only candidate in the race that the media cannot find dirt on. Except for his big house and the fact that his wife has had a recurrence of cancer, the media ignore him completely. He is smart, committed, and clean. He cares about the right issues. Is he too good to be president? Let's hope our country deserves someone like John Edwards.
Judith Stillion at 9:32AM on Apr 2nd 2007
5. when all the paper money media hype is over and people watch and hear what presidential candidate Ron Paul has to say www.ronpaul2008.com they might consider a commonsense vote for the gold standard gentleman who voted against the war of choice.
Bob at 9:45AM on Apr 2nd 2007
6. As a Republican, John Edwards doesn't scare me as most liberal Democrats do. If he got the nomination to run for President, I would vote for him.
Theresa Williamson at 10:05AM on Apr 2nd 2007
7. I am a Republican. I would vote for John Edwards if he were the Democratic nominee. Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama scare me because they both said that "homosexuality wasn't immoral"---what Bible are they reading? Not the Koran and Not the Holy Scriptures! Clinton and Obama are extremely liberal candidates. Our nation doesn't need an extreme liberal president to lead our nation.
Theresa Williamson at 10:09AM on Apr 2nd 2007
8. I rate John Edwards as the hardest worker so far in the Presidential race. It's going to be a long road, but his attitude seems to be a winning one.
Steve Bonomo at 10:19AM on Apr 2nd 2007
9. John Edwards reminds me of the "grass root" value-based leader John F. Kennedy was. Our country is despirately looking for a genuine leader again! Politically-correct doesn't matter to most Americns, as we search for personal safety/security, love, enjoyment, and self-significance. Campaign dollars notwihstanding, John Edwards is clearly the leader we need because he uses his intelligence to examine facts (not heresay) as well as consquences before making decisions.
Robert Dodson at 11:43AM on Apr 2nd 2007
10. The militant left wingers who control TIME, CNN
and the rest of the estabishment media just can't
deal with the reality of American politics any
more.Either Gulianai or McCain will easily
defeat Hillary, Obama, Edwards, or any other
Democrat( including fatboy Gore).A democrat can
only be elected President if he can convince the
public he is not a liberal, a la Slick Willy
and peanuthead Carter.But it's too late for
Hillary to do this, and when Obama's far left views come out ,his prettyboy image won"t cover
up for them.
upboy at 12:42PM on Apr 2nd 2007
11. It is about time, this great country of ours should have a capable, intelligent, smart woman president. Britain, Germany, India, SriLanka, Isreal etc., all had woman president/prime minister. These countries all did very good. Better than what we didin last 6 years so far. Invading Iraq was a biggest political blunder. The best course was to use Iran to control Iraq as Clinton did. What we did is that we made Iran more powerful. The biggest threat in the middle east!We should elect Hillary. She is smart, intelligent, capable lady. She will be much much better that what we had for the last 6 years!!!!
Kala Rathi at 12:54PM on Apr 2nd 2007
12. Obama and clinton are a little too slick. John Edwards is a "real" person. Send your money!
llwhale at 1:46PM on Apr 2nd 2007
13. John Edwards is an incredibly positive, sharp, good-hearted man who knows what it's like to come from humble beginnings, and remembers all those Americans who aren't able to buy a place at $10,000 a plate fund-raising dinners. He is pro-middle class [no, Republicans don't care about anyone but the richest], pro-equal opportunity, pro-America, pro-environment, pro-family, pro-you-and-me, pro-sane foreign policy. He has my vote and my small contributions. Join his campaign and chip in.
RepubsRFascists at 3:59PM on Apr 2nd 2007
14. As the campaign moves forward, how will Edwards address his critics on his trial lawyer background - creating his wealth at the expense of others(?) That will need to be clarified, the court of public opinion will be watching and responding.
mary at 4:26PM on Apr 2nd 2007
15. so far in the race i would vote for John Edwards i live in a small oregon coast town. John Edwards is the kinda of man I can trust. im a 41 year old single mom of 3 boy's and one girl,and my son is a Marine he spent 3 years in iraq he was one of the first to go. he is now deaf in one ear and has alot of mental issues. but i still believe he went over there for a good cause. im proud of him. i think we should give more positive hope to the young men over there and that have came back.he put his 4 years in, but now he is in the Va hospital becuase of all the negative people on what he did. i would hope the U.S.A. doesn't turn there back on young men like my son. THINK OF THE FUTURE we are proud to be Americans.Please don't make him feel ashamed.
kim at 4:49PM on Apr 2nd 2007