| Illinois senator Barack Obama is coming to Minneapolis today for a low-dollar rally at International Market Square and a high-dollar fundraiser later in the evening. Check back later tonight for coverage -- if there happens to be wireless coverage at the event, you might even see a liveblog.
Obama's appearance comes on the crest of massive fundraising numbers -- observers indicate that he may hit the $30 million mark in Q2 money, but it's not all big-dollar donors getting him there. As of 8 AM CDT Friday, BarackObama.com indicates that the campaign has over 251,000 individual donors, and the next donation will be the 350,000th. For a presidential campaign still more than six months from the first caucus and primary dates, this is an extremely impressive number.
Although Hillary Clinton's and John Edwards' campaigns have both said they will raise plenty of money to execute their strategies, Obama's low average donation (around $250 in Q1) means the Illinois senator has plenty of room to ask past donors for another check. If his strategy of building a movement out of his campaign is to be successful, Obama will need those invested low-dollar donors to become true surrogates in their communities, changing the likely-voter calculus in early-primary and Super-Duper-Ultra-Tuesday states.
Still waiting to see if Minnesota joins that second group. |
