$500 Million Dollar Man

Image details: Senator Hillary Clinton and US Democratic Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama speak at the ‘Women for Obama’ breakfast at the Hilton Hotel in New York City served by picapp.com

The Democrats seem to have set a goal for fundraising during the general election in light of Barack Obama’s impressive talent for generating donations — in June, Obama collected $52 million. The Democratic goal is a nice round number: $500 million.

There were some worries over the past few weeks that the Obama fundraising machine was slowly. The Wall Street Journal estimated that June’s totals would be around $30 million. It’s a legitimate question, though: how long will Democratic donors dole out cash? There’s a certain amount of fatigue that’s bound to happen.

That question is a bit of a worry in light of that $500 million figure. To hit that number, Obama must add more than 50 percent to the already impressive fundraising totals he reached during the primary, in a quarter of the time. Democratic fundraisers haven’t exactly set themselves an easy goal.

To make matters more difficult, Obama’s campaign spending has just about kept step with his fundraising. They’re spending $42 million a month. He’s set records for the number of paid staffers on a campaign and, as November gets closer, his spending will only increase.