However, with the president's re-election effort in trouble, the pace of his fundraising has slowed dramatically. This Friday is the reporting deadline for the third quarter of fundraising and on Tuesday, the president sent out an email to supporters asking for small donations... surprisingly small.
The email from Barack Obama suggests a contribution of $3 or more. Outside his Oakland campaign headquarters ABC7 asked supporters if they had contributed. Adam Klein said he intends to give. So does Oneita White. But like the great majority of the president's 2008 small donors, they have yet to write a check.
The fundraising numbers show a real slow down. In the spring, the president's campaign broke records raising $86 million, but the third quarter goal is $30 million less.
"Look. It's been a disastrous summer for Barack Obama," said ABC7 political analyst Bruce Cain.
Cain says it is always slow in the summer before an election year, but this summer has been particularly bad with the president's job approval rate dipping, the jobless numbers rising, and the economy continuing to struggle. However, our political analyst says that is not going to decide the race because this time, the president does not need an army of volunteers to get out the vote in the primaries and the Supreme Court decisions on money in politics mean unlimited amounts can be raised and spent by wealthy donors independent of the campaigns. And, while small donors may be worse off than they were four years ago, Barack Obama is actually in a better position.
"Largely because he does not have to run against anybody in the primary election and because whoever runs on the Republican side is going to scare the Democratic base into raising a lot of money when the time comes next summer," Cain said.
In response to questions from reporters, the Obama campaign issued a statement saying, as of June, "More than 552,000 Americans contributed to the campaign in the second quarter -- more than in all of 2007."
So, the president's campaign says that fundraising is on track, but the questions persist about his base. And, as ABC7 has reported before, 2012 will be a very different experience for the president. As of right now, it appears that the best he can hope for is a narrow victory.
