If fundraising is any indicator, Biden is the man to beat. At least as of today, at least until he opens his mouth again.



According to Biden’s campaign, they raised $6.3 million in the first 24 hours, ousting both Sanders and Beto who had impressive opening days, raising $5.9 million and $6.1 million, respectively.

Biden set the 24-hour-fundraising bar in that conf. call earlier this week and he appears to have met it –raised $6.3 million in 1st 24 hours, more than Sanders and O’Rourke. 96,926 contributors. THOUGH pay attention to potential spin in that Biden press release — 1/2 — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 26, 2019

2/2 Biden heralds ONLINE donations…. “97% of online donations were under $200… average online donation was $41″… What about donations overall? And how much of $6.3M is just for primary cash v general election? Will update with more when we get it — — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 26, 2019

UPDATE: Campaign says ALL of this $6.3M is primary cash, NONE is for general. — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 26, 2019

More from Politico:

Biden’s campaign launch sent the Democratic digital fundraising world in general into overdrive: About $7.6 million flowed through ActBlue, the party’s preferred online donation processor, on Thursday, according to the site. The daily average in the first three months of the year was $1.9 million. It’s unclear exactly how much of that online money went to Biden’s nascent campaign, as his rivals for the Democratic nomination also tried to capitalize off the attention surrounding his launch. Sanders, who is running as an outsider and is in second place to Biden in most polls, called on small-dollar donors to pitch in after Biden’s Thursday announcement. Sanders’ campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, signed two fundraising emails for his campaign with “Joe Biden” in the subject line amid allusions to upcoming high-dollar fundraising events for the former vice president. …Biden’s Friday haul immediately led to howls from Sanders’ supporters on social media, where they quickly accused him of being in the pocket of lobbyists for taking money from industry insiders. They also noted that Sanders had far more contributors in his first day of fundraising, in their view a sign that the senator has a broader base of financial support from regular people and more room to tap his donor network for more money. O’Rourke, Sen. Kamala Harris and Julián Castro’s campaigns were also among those who name-checked Biden in their own fundraising emails on Thursday. On his first day as a candidate, Sanders brought in $5.9 million, a record total until O’Rourke’s campaign announced raising $6.1 million in his first 24 hours in the race. The next-biggest launch in terms of campaign money was for Harris, who raised $1.5 million in her first 24 hours.



