According to the Washington Post, Barack Obama raised half a billion dollars online.
3 million donors made a total of 6.5 million donations online adding up to more than $500 million.
Of those 6.5 million donations, 6 million were in increments of $100 or less. The average online donation was $80, and the average Obama donor gave more than once.
Here are some more specific figures from the Post:
- Obama’s e-mail list contains upwards of 13 million addresses.
- Over the course of the campaign, aides sent more than 7,000 different message
- On MyBarackObama.com, or MyBO, Obama’s own socnet, 2 million profiles were created. In addition, 200,000 offline events were planned, about 400,000 blog posts were written and more than 35,000 volunteer groups were created.
- Obama has 5 million supporters in other socnets. He maintained a profile in more than 15 online communities, including BlackPlanet, a MySpace and Facebook. More than 5.4 million users clicked on an “I Voted” button to let their Facebook friends know that they made it to the polls.
No doubt this campained change how all future campains will use the internet and the number and power of the internet continue to amaze.
“No doubt this campained change how all future campains will use the internet and the number and power of the internet continue to amaze.”
Definitely agree with that. I have a feeling that as Americans we use this type of technology (Facebook, Online donations, etc) more than other people in the world, but it will leak over to other countries… and then it’ll be a “must” for political campaigns.
This is good news for the domain industry as it demonstrates the power of the internet, and gives domaining even more relevance.
Change has come to the internet, and the domain industry may just be right behind it.
What happens to all the money that was not used by the campaigns of both parties? I would guess that would be in the 100’s of millions.
Anthony-
It depends what office they are running for. For federal elections, it gets dumped into an account for re-election. They then have the choice of donating it to a charity (INCLUDING the democratic or republican party), or simply refund the contributions to the people that donated them. The most likely case would be for the federal funds to be used in local elections that you never even heard of.
Local elections depend on local laws.
Obama did not take federal funds so his campaign war chest is his to do what he wants I would think.
That would include giving some to other Democrats to help them run in 2010?
Anyway, Obama has changed elections FOREVER and the Internet is now a KEY component to ANY political race FOREVER.
Another reason to be happy about working in this industry.
It is less intimidating to give money online than someone at your doorstep.
The power of technology!!
What an interesting way to get around maximum allowable campaign contributions.
I’m not saying I’ve got a problem with Obama. I’m just saying that this online donation idea was more than just clever. It certainly helped put together enough cash to make a fantastic campaign.
Also, I’m not saying that this accounts for all of the 6.5 million. I believe there really was a never before seen level of support behind him from the public, but I’ll bet it accounts for a alot of it.
Looks like the Obama Team did a PERFECT Job in raising money.
Now he is the President- Elect.
Let’s see will his words which he spoke prior to winning the Presidential Election match his action to produce a POSITIVE outcome for the people in the USA.
If he can be as successful like he was in raising money for his Presidential Campaign in fixing the Country’s ailing Economy / Foreign Relations and etc. that would be a President that the USA needs (he would make his mark as the GREATEST President EVER).
Time will tell what will be.