» Not much bang for the buck: Tons of money is needed to get a political campaign off the ground, but that doesn’t mean being rich out of the gate is a sure-fire win for wannabe politicians. In 2010, wrestling magnate Linda McMahon spent $50 million on her own Senate campaign only to be crushed by Richard Blumenthal, who’d raised a (relatively) modest $8.7 million. More recently, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst lost the GOP primary after giving $24 million to his own war chest—the most so far of any candidate this cycle. But this doesn’t seem to be discouraging wealthy candidates: McMahon is running for the Senate again this year, and her $8.8 million contribution constitutes 90% of what she’s raised so far.
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A Glorious Ending: Something tells us that Matt Inman just wrote the final chapter in his feud with FunnyJunk and lawyer Charles Carreon. Just as he promised when Operation BearLove Good, Cancer Bad began last month, Inman posted photos of the $211,223.04 he raised for the National Wildlife Federation and American Cancer Society, in addition to the care package that he plans to have delivered to Carreon’s front door.
» The spike in donations has put the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on track for a historically-high month, only a few weeks removed from a record-breaking $5.6 million in donations during May. The donation numbers also add legitimacy to Democratic claims that the ruling galvanized the left every bit as much as it galvanized the right. Though, even when combined with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s similarly high $2.3 million in donations, the numbers seem small compared to the more than $5.5 million raised by Mitt Romney in the first 24-hours after the decision.
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48,000 backers. $7.2 million raised. Nearly three weeks to go. Meet the biggest Kickstarter campaign ever — the Pebble e-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android. (Personal opinion: Brydge is way cooler, but both are awesome.)
» But at least Romney has Super PAC backing: While Obama more than doubled Romney’s fundraising total in March — $35 million to $12.6 million — Romney’s stayed competitive with the help of the Super PAC supporting him, Restore Our Future. Other Super PACs are helping too — the Karl Rove-backed American Crossroads, which is expected to ratchet up the Obama attack ads, raised $31.2 million in March — and the RNC’s fundraising is back on track after a fairly rough stretch under Michael Steele. One thing Romney hasn’t done this time around is put his own money into the campaign, like he did in 2008 when he threw $40 million in the pot. Think Mitt can prove formidable despite the cash deficit?
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» Romney’s heating up the fundraising, too: With the primary campaign largely over, Mitt Romney is now working together with the Republican National Committee on fundraising, and they’re starting to pick up steam — the RNC, which has had some fundraising scandals in recent years, raised $13.7 million in March, while Mitt has $72 million in cash as of the end of February. The Mittster is expected to announce his March totals later this week. As you might’ve heard, Mitt’s a tad bullish towards big-ticket donors these days.
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» Not quite as much as 2008, though: Four years ago, Obama’s donation prowess was a little stronger: He raised $56 million in February 2008. This decline is to be expected, however, due to “donor fatigue” and the slow economy.
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