WORLD> America
|
WORLD> America
|
|
Obama gets boost from huge funding, Powell backing
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-20 11:13 Obama's fundraising announcement highlighted his disproportionate ability to spend money and blanket the air waves with advertisements, sometimes by a margin of 4-to-1 over McCain.
By bringing in at least $150 million in September, Obama more than doubled the $66 million he raised in August, which had been a record. McCain has accepted public financing and is limited to spending $84 million for the entire campaign. Unlike McCain, Obama chose not to accept public funding for his campaign, freeing him to raise millions privately. The Obama campaign said it had 632,000 new donors in September to bring its total to 3.1 million. It said the average donation for the month was less than $100. McCain again chided Obama for not living up to his pledge to accept public funds and warned of the damages of unlimited spending. "I'm saying that history shows us where unlimited amounts of money are in political campaigns, it leads to scandal," he said. When asked whether Obama was buying the election as his campaign spokesman claimed, McCain said, "I think you could make that argument." McCain was spending the day in Ohio, a state he must win if he is to be president. No Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio and it was the state that put Bush over the top in 2004. Obama was also in a battleground state with a heavy military presence, North Carolina, which had been expected to be an easy Republican win but is now in play for Democrats. At Fayetteville, near Fort Bragg, the home of the 82nd Airborne Division, Obama called Powell "a great soldier, a great statesman and a great American" and thanked him for his advice over the years. "He reminded us that at this defining moment, we don't have the luxury of relying on the same political games, the same political tactics that have been used in so many elections to divide us from one another and make us afraid of one another," Obama told the cheering crowd of about 10,000 people. Powell said he has no plans to campaign for Obama and was not looking for a job in his administration but he left the door open to the possibility. |
