President Barack Obama has officially announced his run for re-election.

Obama did so early this morning by releasing a Web video and through e-mail messages to supporters — relatively low-key communications compared to the arena-filling speeches that became his hallmark during his 2008 campaign.

“Today, we are filing papers to launch our 2012 campaign. We’re doing this now because the politics we believe in does not start with expensive TV ads or extravaganzas, but with you — with people organizing block-by-block, talking to neighbors, co-workers, and friends,” Obama wrote. “And that kind of campaign takes time to build. So even though I’m focused on the job you elected me to do, and the race may not reach full speed for a year or more, the work of laying the foundation for our campaign must start today.”

During the 2008 election, Obama set fund-raising records and mobilized millions of individual donors. Before Obama’s rock star status and flood of online donations, he also relied on many of the traditional tools of political fund-raising.

For instance, during the course of the campaign, more than 500 “bundlers” gathered at least $76.5 million for Obama, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics. (Several of these moneymen and women went on to secure overseas ambassadorships, as OpenSecrets Blog has previously reported.)

In all, Obama’s political team raised more than $745 million during the 2008 election cycle.

About 55 percent of that sum, or $409.2 million, came during the extensive primary battle between Obama and then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), according to research by the Campaign Finance Institute. About 45 percent, or $336.9 million, came during his general election bout against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Obama was particularly successful in turning small-dollar donors into repeat givers, often via the Internet. The Obama campaign will be trying to emulate that success this go around.

OBAMA’S SURGE OF SMALL-DOLLAR SUPPORT

Nearly 60 cents out of every dollar Obama raised during the 2008 election cycle came from individuals who gave less than $1,000 — a combined sum of more than $427 million.

During both the primary election and the general election, about 57 percent of Obama’s money came from individuals who contributed less than $1,000, according to research by the Campaign Finance Institute (.pdf file containing the source data here).

About one-third of Obama’s money came strictly from individuals giving less than $200, the threshold for itemized reporting to the Federal Election Commission. That represents more than $235 million.

By comparison, about 40 percent of McCain’s war chest during the GOP primary contests came from donors who gave less than $1,000 and 21 percent came from people donating less than $200, according to research by the Campaign Finance Institute.

In 2004, Republican President George W. Bush similarly relied on individuals who donated less than $1,000, as they represented 40 percent of his overall war chest. And Bush’s rival that year, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), got about 44 percent of his money from donors giving less than $1,000. Bush collected about 20 percent of his money from people giving less than $200, while Kerry raised about 26 percent of his money from these small-dollar donors.



During the 2008 general election, McCain did not raise private funds and instead opted into the nation’s presidential public financing system. In 2004, both Bush and Kerry, likewise, used the public financing system during the general election.



LAWYERS, WALL STREET, EDUCATORS FUELED 2008 WAR CHEST

The legal community contributed more than $43 million to Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign coffers — more than any other sector or industry according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Retirees ranked second, giving Obama about $42.9 million. The financial sector followed closely behind, at about $39.7 million in donations to Obama. And the education industry, including employees of colleges and universities, gave Obama about $23 million.

Obama notably refused contributions from political action committees and federally registered lobbyists. Nevertheless, based on the employer and occupation information of individual donors disclosed in campaign finance reports, the Center know that employees of the following companies and organizations comprised Obama’s financial supporters:

Organization Amount Employees Donated University of California $1,591,395 Goldman Sachs $994,795 Harvard University $854,747 Microsoft Corp. $833,617 Google Inc. $803,436 Citigroup Inc. $701,290 JPMorgan Chase & Co. $695,132 Time Warner $590,084 Sidley Austin LLP $588,598 Stanford University $586,557

Blue states on both coasts, as well as Obama’s home state of Illinois, provided the significant cash to Obama during his 2008 presidential bid.

Californians donated more than $78 million to Obama’s war chest — more than donors from any other state, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics of contributions exceeding the $200 Federal Election Commission disclosure threshold.

New Yorkers, meanwhile, contributed more than $50.5 million. Individuals in the Washington, D.C. metro area doled out about $35.5 million for Obama. Fellow residents of Illinois gave Obama more than $28.8 million. And residents of Massachusetts gave Obama more than $20.8 million.

In mid-March, the New York Times reported that Jim Messina, who is managing Obama’s re-election efforts, asked “a select group of 450 donors each asked to raise $350,000 before the end of the year.” On Friday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Messina has been telling donors that Obama will need to raise “north of $750 million.”

Some have speculated that Obama will again opt against public financing and that his money machine will likely raise more than $1 billion for his re-election bid.

“He’s planning on it,” Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the consumer rights organization Public Citizen, recently told Bloomberg. “He thinks he’s got to raise a billion dollars to have a chance for re-election.”

Watch Obama’s campaign launch video below:



For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]

·

·

·

·

·

·

·

·

·

Support Accountability Journalism At OpenSecrets.org we offer in-depth, money-in-politics stories in the public interest. Whether you’re reading about 2020 presidential fundraising, conflicts of interest or “dark money” influence, we produce this content with a small, but dedicated team. Every donation we receive from users like you goes directly into promoting high-quality data analysis and investigative journalism that you can trust. Please support our work and keep this resource free. Thank you. Support OpenSecrets ➜

Read more OpenSecrets News & Analysis: