DISPATCH FROM WASHINGTON_________________________________
Dr. Abdillahi Alawy
Senator Barack Obama’s campaign announced Wednesday morning that it had raised at least $25 million in the first quarter of 2007 for the 2008 presidential contest. Senator Hillary Clinton, his main rival in the Democratic Party nomination raised $26 million in the same period. Both amounts are record-breaking.
The amounts are strangely close such that any observer of this presidential race can genuinely say that Obama is a frightening candidate to not only his Democratic rivals, but a force to be reckoned with even by the Republican Party operatives.
All these funds were raised in a few weeks by the little known senator who has only served two years of his first term in the Senate. Senator Obama’s, campaign’s finance chairperson, Penny Pritzker, said that “This overwhelming response, in only a few short weeks, shows the hunger for a different kind of politics in this country and a belief at the grassroots level that Barrack Obama can bring out the best in America to solve our problems.”
Obama has created a campaign machine that cuts through all the noise and road blocks that candidates face during their first major campaign. He has crafted a hopeful message that has reached not only the ears of party loyalists but has convinced the pockets of American voters that his is a course to follow if they want a different America.
Therefore, for a candidate who does not have the formidable political connections and moneybags-networks of the Clintons and the Kerry’s, Obama has clearly shown that he knows how to build a money machine from the bottom to the top. There can never be a clearer indicator than the amount of money he has raised in this quarter.
Better yet, Obama has surpassed Mrs. Clinton in many important ways: It is reported in the Washington Post that his campaign raised $6.9 million through donations over the Internet. This surpasses the $4.2 million that Hillary Clinton raised online. Obama’s donations came from 100,000 people, compared to Hillary’s 50,000 people.
Additionally, even though Obama’s and Hillary’s total amounts of mid $20 million may seem very close together, it is important to understand that over 90% of Obama’s money is usable money for the primary campaign while Hillary’s money may be tied to both the primary and the general election which gives her only half of what she reported for the campaign at hand.
The losing candidate in the primaries is supposed to surrender remaining funds to the Party. Either way, Mr. Obama has raised more money than Hillary in the same short period of time. And, as we report there are many campaign managers on the other side who are very worried about this son of a Kenyan man.
“He has my vote.” These are the words spoken by millions of Americans nowadays after listening to the thin handsome Senator from Illinois. Those same words carry a lot of weight when they come from Rev. Jesse Jackson who, surprisingly, is a great friend of both Bill and Hillary Clinton. Recently, Jesse Jackson threw all his support for Obama.
Opinion polls, that tend to be taken seriously in this country all show that Hillary is still the leader of all the Democratic Party candidates in line including Barrack Obama. However, it is quite clear that Senators Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama are the main contenders for the 2008 presidential candidates for their party.
Even though polls are indicating that Hillary is leading, they also strongly emphasize that Obama is closing on the gap. Also, there have been small gains by former vice presidential candidate, John Edwards and New Mexico’s Governor Bill Richardson, also contesting for the same seat. Both candidates reported less than $15 million for their campaign funds raised so far.
Whereas the contest is wide open for anything to happen, it does seem inevitable that Senator Obama has snatched a formidable niche that has proved to be difficult to uproot. The media, especially, the network Television has favorably embraced Mr. Obama with a great fondness that only God can change. If Obama was a regular candidate such as John Kerry, Michael Dukakis or others who can easily be blown away by manufactured scandals, Obama will have been gone a long time ago.
While it is about 50 days since he announced his bid for the presidency, Mr. Obama has been challenged with exposure after exposure. Allegations have been thrown out there that Mr. Obama was a Muslim in his younger life, a tremendous “sin” in the post-911, Western world where having a middle name such as Hussein may be reason enough to be fired-- whether you are an FBI operative or a school bus driver. His own hometown paper, the Chicago Tribute has started a litany of negative series on Obama that he supposedly lied in presenting some of the narratives in his best-selling books.
Hard at work, Obama’s detractors are challenging his every word and every gesture in order to derail his candidacy. Parking citations from his days at Harvard University have been un-earthed and became a topic for days. While we agree that this background checking is very normal for any candidate, what is not normal is the fact that all the allegations do not seem to negatively affect candidate Obama.
Obama is gaining on the polls and his popularity is swirling with big names solidly coming out to support him. For example, many thought that Barrack Obama will not be able to garner support from the black voters. But, with high profile personalities such as the Jesse Jacksons joining his camp, there is no doubt that Obama is less worried today about his brothers and sisters’ support. Jesse Jackson Junior, the son of Rev Jackson, an Illinois representative at the House supported Obama a long time ago. In the coming weeks Rev Al Sharpton and other black leaders will follow suit and very likely Obama will wipe Hillary’s lead or surpass her in the polls. In any part of the world money can speak louder than any other thing. Time will tell.
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