By now, most of us have seen the results of the 4th Quarter fundraising for our presidential hopefuls. Hillary still holds a fundraising lead bringing in 37 million this quarter, whereas Bernie brought in 33 million. The Hillary campaign has raised just over 100 million in total to Bernies 73 million. With a margin as such, many would refer to it as a ‘ commanding lead’ . Dating back to the first quarter, with Clinton said to have brought in 45 million, when Bernie had brought in only 15. With those numbers certainly carrying an intimidation factor with them, there are things Bernies supporters need not forget.. For example, Bernie from the beginning of his candidacy has vowed to not accept super pac money, or astronomical donations via corporate America and the million/billionaire class. If you were to quickly compare, say, the top 4 donors and contributions from the two hopefuls you would find these results.
Hillary
Citi Group, 824,000, Goldman Sachs 760,000, DLA Piper 700,000, Jp Morgan & Chase 696,000.
Bernie
Machinist/ Aerospace workers union 105,000, Teamsters Union 93,700, National Education Association 89,000, United Auto Workers Union 79,000.
You see the obvious differences, the amount of money and the donors themselves. What some may not see through the lines is this; In this quarter Clinton out raised the Sanders campaign by 4 million. With all the corporate, wealthy and maxed donations to the Clinton campaign;it only managed to overcome Sanders by a minuscule margin. Whereas, Bernies Political Revolution has broken history by breaking Obama’s previous record of individual contributions through the unforeseen power of his grass roots campaign.
Back in April, 2015, Sanders was down at 1% nearly across the board. To now, arguably the front runner in the race for the Democratic nomination. Despite the fundraising differences, there has never been a candidate in the history of the nation to gain as much recognition as quickly, rally as many people, and obtain as many individual donations as the Sanders campaign. The passion, honesty and consistency that lye within the Sanders campaign and Bernie himself may very well be the biggest difference in this campaign.
While the countdown to the Iowa caucus has begun, it is only a matter of time until the Nation gets the chance to see the amount of support behind this historical movement..