Obama Raises $52 Million in June

When it comes to Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic Party, money certainly talks.

In an e-mail sent on July 17, David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, announced that the campaign had raised $52 million in June alone. This marks Obama's second-best fundraising month since the campaign raised $55 million in February.

Plouffe's e-mail cited the "hundreds of thousands of ordinary people" who contributed to Obama's campaign. The average donation, according to the e-mail, was $68.

Plouffe warned that Obama's opponent Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) still had a financial advantage and asked for contributors to continue giving to the campaign. Combined with the Republican National Committee, McCain has access to nearly $100 million, trumping the $72 million raised by both Obama and the Democratic National Committee.

Whose pocket is it, anyway?

A recurring theme of the Obama campaign arose in Plouffe's e-mail, which stated that the campaign did not accept donations from lobbyists and special interest political action committees.

Critical of the Republican nominee, Plouffe said that McCain and the RNC "have no such standards," implying that these two parties accept questionable funds and will soon run attack ads on Obama.

"We must work together and fight back against [the Republicans'] efforts," Plouffe said in the e-mail.

Florida funds

According to the Federal Election Commission, Obama raised over $286 million through May of this year with individual contributions alone. He has $43,147,334 cash on hand, and the majority of the donations acquired were under $200.

Obama raised over $8 million in Florida. The Sunshine State ranks fifth in contributions, behind California ($37,131,248), New York ($22,862,556), home-state Illinois ($18,514,370) and Massachusetts ($9,108,498).

The majority of the donations fell in South Florida, particularly in Miami-Dade County. Over $2 million has been donated to the campaign so far by over 5,000 contributors. Contributors include Modesto Abety, President and CEO of The Children's Trust, and Adrienn Arsht, who recently gave over $30 million to the struggling Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Miami (now appropriately known as the Adrienne Arsht Center).

But many contributions came from university professors, attorneys and self-employed individuals. From over 5,000 donors, many contributed as little as $25 toward the campaign - while others, such as Arsht, gave well over $2,000.

The Republican contender has not fared so well in Florida. For the entire state, McCain has raised only $7,406,299 through May and has barely raised $1 million within South Florida. Despite having solid support from many Hispanic voters (which makes up a large population of South Florida), Miami-Dade County remains strongly Democratic.

With over three months left until the general election, Obama still has plenty of time to raise even more money in Florida, a key (and sometimes troublesome) state in the general election. With 27 electoral votes, Florida is prime battleground for both Democratic and Republican competitors.

Mind-numbing numbers

I have always been amazed at the Obama campaign and its ability to fundraise. In fact, I am also one of the millions of donors who gave to the campaign, one of the many who have never donated money to a politician before. In total, I have contributed under $25. (I would have given more, but as a college student, there wasn't much to spare.)

I have been curious, though. I asked myself, really, how much money can one person manage to acquire in a month? And again, Barack Obama has taken me (and many others watching this political battle continue) by surprise - but what does $52 million mean?

I decided to see how many students could attend my college, FIU, if they had access to $52 million.

Doing some quick math, I found that over 3,250 students would be able to attend FIU without room and board, books or health insurance, based on 2007-2008 rates. What's even more boggling is that these numbers were calculated based on the fact that these hypothetical students were out-of-state.

Calculating for Florida residents, over 14,500 students would be able to attend FIU under these same conditions. (See: FIU Costs.)

In a time where Florida has suffered wicked budget cuts and admissions freezes mandated upon universities and colleges, I honestly wish I had some of that dough. But I can only hope, as an Obama supporter, that Obama uses his money wisely for the upcoming presidential election.

Even though he has a lot of cash, he's going to need every penny before November 4, 2008.