Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders raised more than US$33 million during the past three months in his bid to win the Democratic presidential nomination, his campaign said on Saturday, just short of the amount brought in by rival Hillary Rodham Clinton during the same period.
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, has now collected US$73 million for the primaries through a powerful online fundraising apparatus that should help him compete with Clinton deep into spring. His haul is to allow him to spend money at a comparable rate with Clinton, who raised US$37 million since the beginning of October and US$112 million during last year for her primary campaign.
“This people-powered campaign is revolutionizing American politics,” said Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager, in a statement. “What we are showing is that we can run a strong, national campaign without a super PAC [Political Action Committee] and without depending on millionaires and billionaires for their support. We are making history, and we are proud of it.”
Clinton is the Democratic front-runner in national polls, but Sanders remains within striking distance against her in Iowa, which holds its leadoff caucuses on Feb. 1. Sanders is hoping to surprise Clinton in Iowa and then use his ties in the northeastern New England states to defeat her in the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 9, where polls have shown him with a slight advantage.
The campaign finance estimates indicate that Sanders should have the resources to mount an effective challenge: His campaign said it had US$28.4 million in the bank at the end of last year.
Clinton’s campaign, which spent about US$75 million during last year to build a large data-driven organization, ended the year with US$38 million in cash on hand. Sanders spent about US$45 million last year.
He stepped up his expenditures during the fourth quarter when he began television advertising and increased the size of his paid staff in early voting states.
Most of Sanders’ fundraising came through 2.5 million online donations during last year, a number that his team said surpassed US President Barack Obama’s record number of 2.2 million donations in 2011.
Sanders’ average donation was US$27, an amount that would allow him to return to his contributors for more money during the spring. Only a few hundred of his 1 million individual donors gave the maximum of US$2,700 for the primary, the campaign said.
However, Clinton is also helping build the party for the general election. She raised US$18 million for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and state Democratic parties nationwide in the fourth quarter, putting her total haul for the past three months at US$55 million. The DNC money is aimed at helping Clinton in the general election should she win the party’s nomination.
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