The Federal Election Commission released a breakdown this week of how money was spent during the 2008 presidential campaign. Then-Sen. Barack Obama raised a staggering $747.7 million in private funds during the primaries and general election – mostly in smaller online donations. The President raised so much money, in fact, that he transferred millions to state committees, including a large chunk to the Montana Democratic Party, to drive voter turnout. <a href="http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=C7067BA6-18FE-70B2-A825ACECC6332442" title="From POLITICO“>From POLITICO:
As the cash continued flooding his website in the run-up to the election, Obama’s campaign was faced with a dilemma unprecedented in modern presidential politics: how to spend it all before Election Day.
The transfers to the state committees not only helped drive turnout in key states (Obama won 13 of the 15 states to which his campaign transferred the most cash), but they also reinforced the effects of his coattails and could boost Democrats in both the 2010 midterms and Obama’s own 2012 reelection bid.
Among the top beneficiaries of the Obama campaign’s largesse were the Democratic parties in Florida, which received $5.5 million, Virginia ($3.1 million), North Carolina ($2.3 million), Colorado ($1.9 million), Nevada ($1.6 million), Indiana ($1.4 million), Iowa ($700,000) and New Mexico ($450,000) – all states Obama won that had gone Republican in the 2004 presidential election.
The only states that Obama lost where the Democratic parties were among the top recipients of Obama’s generosity were Missouri, to which he transferred $2 million, and Montana, where the party received $738,000.
Here’s a list of all the transfers from Obama for America to party committees during the 2008 election, from the FEC:
