Obama Campaign Continues in Culver City

Caption: Councilmember Parks poses with guests at an Obama Fundraiser in Culver City.

 

Culver City, CA- As the nation maintains its political focus on Presidential Primaries from Pennsylvania on April 22 to Montana on June 3, the fundraising focus shifted to the relatively smaller, recently “hipper” and “trendier” area of Culver City over the weekend. There, Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s campaign reached into the home of one Culver City resident and into the pockets of others to expand on a fundraising lead aided by the doubling of his opponent, Senator Hillary Clinton’s, money intake for the month of March.

To carry the message of the campaign, Obama staffers enlisted the help of former Los Angeles Police Chief, current Councilman and fellow campaign trail member Bernard C. Parks. The thinly-veiled hope was that Parks, who is in the middle of his own race for the Second District Seat on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors and has been masterful at raising more than $700,000 for that effort, would have similar success at loosening up the purse strings for Obama. The fact that the fundraiser was held in a home in Culver City, located in the Second District was an extra-added bonus because Parks may very well have approached or be approaching the same potential donors for his campaign.

During the fundraiser, Parks played his role and attempted to separate Obama from his opponents. “Barack Obama is the only candidate who has a coherent plan for the United States of America,” Parks said. “He’s the only candidate who doesn’t need a briefing memo to talk about things that affect much of this country, like: poverty, discrimination or coming from a single-parent home. And, he will make the appropriate changes in healthcare.”

Parks has been a very active supporter of Obama’s and was one of those in attendance at Friday’s “Obamathon” rally at the L.A. Sentinel Newspaper’s Offices. The ability to reach out to a variety of funding sources, gives the Obama Campaign the ability to wage an aggressive campaign for his party’s nomination in Pennsylvania and other states with upcoming contests.

The Illinois senator raised more than $40 million last month and broadened his pool of donors to nearly 1.3 million people, his campaign said Thursday. Hillary Rodham Clinton raised $20 million in March, aides told the Associated Press. She had raised more than $35 million in February. Obama’s March total lags the record $55.4 million he collected in February. His overall fundraising — more than $237 million to date — has shattered the record $185.6 million haul of President Bush at this stage in the 2004 presidential contest.

Obama has spent about $3 million on television ads in Pennsylvania in advance of the state’s primary April 22, compared with about $830,000 by Clinton, according to Evan Tracey, who tracks political advertising at the Campaign Media Analysis Group.

Obama runs roughly 530 spots daily in the Keystone State; Clinton, about 165. Obama also has an advertising edge in Indiana and North Carolina, where he has run TV ads for nearly a week. Clinton launches her first ad in the Tar Heel state today. She is not yet advertising in Indiana, Tracey said.

Both states will hold primaries May 6.

David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, said the March haul demonstrates the “American people’s extraordinary desire to change Washington.” He noted that the campaign attracted 218,000 new donors last month. The average donation was $96.Obama did not disclose how much he has stockpiled for the general election.

About 4 percent of Obama’s money raised through the end of February was for the general election, compared with 13 percent of Clinton’s cash, according to the non-partisan Campaign Finance Institute. Neither Democrat said how much cash they have on hand or disclosed their debts. Candidates are required to report those details in reports due to the Federal Election Commission on April 20.

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson played down Obama’s fundraising total, saying, “We knew that he was going to outraise us.”

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, would not release his March fundraising numbers — a month in which he significantly stepped up his fundraising events. He has lagged far behind the Democrats in the money contest. McCain held 25 fundraisers last month, even though he spent a week on an overseas trip.

Source: USA Today