[George W. Bush]

Not sure how relevant it is but I did read elsewhere that John Edwards had been running a similar fundraising challenge to his supporters. Earlier today, he was at $900,000 and he'd been running his effort for ten days. RP succeeded in only six days and will likely make it to $1.2M by midnight (currently $1,147,800) despite having asked for only $500,000 to start with.

I thought it was interesting and showed, if nothing else, just how weak Edwards really is.

Some leading RP bloggers are saying they're sure he's broken $5M in 3Q fundraising. A few are talking $7-$8M and I saw one use $10M. To me, it'll be surprising if RP breaks $4 million. I do think RP will beat McCain and the rest of the second-tier candidates easily. I think Huckabee may pull his numbers up just a little. I think McCain is completely broke and several million in debt to boot.

It will be interesting to see official numbers being reported, especially when we get the official numbers in a few weeks.

I thought the earlier thread today on Fred raising $8 million was interesting. I guess I thought he'd easily raise more like $10-$15 million given how famous he is but I also didn't see him really spending a lot of time at big-money fundraisers in NYC, CA, etc. (like Rudy & Romney did) so he's done pretty well and has enough money to compete in 4Q as voters get more serious about picking and supporting a candidate financially.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Fred also has it over Rudy and Mitt in stature, presence, conservatism, eloquence and, dare I say it: folksiness. People can identify with him as a person, not just a politician (somewhat like President Reagan).

[jmeagan]

*****I thought the earlier thread today on Fred raising $8 million was interesting. I guess I thought he’d easily raise more like $10-$15 million given how famous he is but I also didn’t see him really spending a lot of time at big-money fundraisers in NYC, CA, etc. (like Rudy & Romney did) so he’s done pretty well and has enough money to compete in 4Q as voters get more serious about picking and supporting a candidate financially.*****

Oh, come on. Every other one of the candidate is getting most of their money from lobbyist type people who want something in return. Can you think of one special interest group that would want to contribute to Ron Paul?

This is just the second time that I have contributed any cash to a political campaign. the other time was to Pat B. as I really liked his trade policies and I liked the fact that he would have brought the troops home from all over the world.