Sanders adviser predicts raising $40M

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders will have raised about $40 million for his presidential bid when the third quarter ends at midnight Wednesday, according to one of his top advisers.

That will include the $15.2 million Sanders, I-Vt., reported raising through the end of June, said Tad Devine, Sanders' senior media adviser.

"We're going to have significant resources and we're going to be able to deploy those resources," Devine said Wednesday. "It's fair to say that we've done better than we originally thought we could do in terms of putting together what we'd need to run this campaign."

Sanders and other presidential candidates were tapping donors for last-minute donations in the final hours of the July-through-September fundraising quarter. Sanders' rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, raised a record $47.5 million from April 1 to June 30.

Devine said he originally thought Sanders would need to raise $40 million to $50 million by February to compete in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. But he said resources are in place now to run full-fledged campaigns in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, to begin campaigning in some states holding primaries in early March, and to get on the ballot in every state.

Sanders' fundraising report, due to the Federal Election Commission on Oct. 15, will show significant expenditures, Devine said. But he said Sanders hasn't spent money on media or polling, leaving him with "very significant" funds.

The campaign on Wednesday met a goal of 1 million contributions since Sanders declared his candidacy on April 30. The campaign will later release the number of contributors.

Devine said Sanders will be ahead of where President Obama was at this time in 2007 in number of contributors and contributions .

"I think that's a big deal," he said.