Democratic Party presidential candidate Howard Dean continued to set Internet records for fundraising. But he still trailed President George W. Bush, the overall money leader.
Dean set what his campaign called a single-quarter fundraising record during the fourth quarter of 2003.
At deadline, the campaign was closing in on $15 million, which it generated through a mixture of traditional political glad-handing and online fundraising. And, thanks largely to the Vermont governor’s savvy use of the Internet, he held the previous record of $25.3 million during the third quarter, according to a CBS poll. And he had achieved a Democratic party record of $40 million last year.
But that fundraising expertise didn’t look like it was going to be enough. Sen. John Kerry had edged ahead of Dean in the Iowa caucuses as this magazine went to press.
Midwestern political observers said that Dean’s setting standards for Internet fundraising may have actually work against him in a state where people are more comfortable with old-fashioned political organizing, not high-tech blogging.
Other Democratic candidates had not reported their fourth quarter results. But as of the third quarter, Kerry had raised $19.8 million, and Sen. John Edwards had drummed up some $14.4 million.
President Bush far exceeded all of his Democratic rivals by taking in $130 million last year. He started the year with $99 million left to spend, and yet more fundraisers planned. Bush collected $1 million online during the fourth quarter.
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