As the second quarter of 2007 nears an end, presidential candidates are scrambling to raise a lot of cash, and, as I’ve reported, there’s speculation that Gov. Bill Richardson will surpass John Edwards in fundraising.
Richardson’s campaign doesn’t release overall fundraising totals except when it files reports with the Federal Election Commission, which will happen for the second quarter sometime between July 1 and 15. But the Washington Post has reported that Richardson is telling other Democrats he expects to beat Edwards.
That would be a huge boost to Richardson’s campaign – one that would vault him, in the eyes of many, into the top tier of candidates.
Today, Richardson’ campaign put a feature on his Web site indicating that he has a goal of raising $2 million this week, before Saturday’s fundraising deadline.
Last quarter, Richardson’s campaign announced a goal of $500,000 for the last week, and exceeded the goal slightly.
The fact that the campaign believes it has a reasonable shot at raising four times that amount this week is significant. It indicates that his support has grown and he has an expanding base of supporters who are passionate enough that they’re willing to give and help raise money.
So far this week, according to the Web site, the Richardson campaign has raised more than $787,000 – at least $200,000 more than it did in the entire last week of the first quarter of the year.
Edwards, by comparison, has raised about $1 million this week. He had a goal of raising about $2.3 million this week and reaching $9 million for the quarter. Right now, he’s at $7.7 million.
Richardson is keeping pace with Edwards this week. From what I’m hearing, it’s likely that he has at least kept pace with him this quarter.
Meanwhile, Richardson gave a major policy speech on Iran today that earned him some national headlines, but he had to share attention with Hillary Clinton, who also gave a speech. Read about both from the Associated Press by clicking here. Read the text of Richardson’s speech here.
And if you’re interested, the Des Moines Register ran a very interesting profile of Richardson on Tuesday that you can read by clicking here.
As the second quarter of 2007 nears an end, presidential candidates are scrambling to raise a lot of cash, and, as I’ve reported, there’s speculation that Gov. Bill Richardson will surpass John Edwards in fundraising.