From the Tribune:

Online support is nice, but big money donors still rule

By Mike Dorning and John McCormick
Tribune staff reporters
Published April 16, 2007, 7:38 PM CDT

Highly publicized online fundraising efforts have not fundamentally altered the dependence on big-money donors for those trying to win the White House.

Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) may boast of the large numbers of donors they have attracted — 104,000 donors for Obama and 60,000 for Clinton — and the importance of the modest donations most of them provide. But despite the enthusiasm those contributions may signal, the campaigns are largely financed by a much smaller group of backers who write big checks.

Even Obama, who has stressed grass-roots fundraising, depended on large-dollar donors who contributed at least $1,000 for more than two-thirds of the money he raised during the first three months of this year, compared to 86 percent for Clinton, according to a study released Monday by the Campaign Finance Institute, a non-partisan research organization affiliated with George Washington University.

"Basically, he and all the others are depending on very small networks of wealthy donors," said Steve Weissman, the institute's associate director.

Although candidates care much more about winning votes than raising money in early caucus and primary states, the newly reported data also shows varying fundraising strength there.

Among the three Democrats who raised the most during the quarter, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards collected the most in Iowa and South Carolina, while Clinton easily led in Nevada, according to a Tribune analysis. Obama narrowly outraised Clinton in New Hampshire.

Obama raised money from more than 3,900 ZIP codes during the first quarter, more than twice as many as in 2004 when he last raised large sums nationally as part of his U.S. Senate bid. His top ZIP code was 60614, which includes much of Lincoln Park, where he raised more than $419,000. That was followed by the Near North Side ZIP code of 60611, where he raised more than $356,000. In fact, the only non-Chicago-area ZIP code in Obama's top five is 10021, on New York's Upper East Side.

During a lunchtime fundraiser Monday at the Chicago Hilton, Obama and his wife, Michelle, painted a bright portrait of their campaign for more than 1,200 contributors gathered for the launch of a group they call Women for Obama.

Obama reminded the audience of the size of the crowds he's drawing lately, notably the assembly of 20,000 at a weekend event in Atlanta, and of the campaign's first-quarter fundraising success. Then he turned to his stump speech.

But Michelle Obama's pitch was specifically about expanding her husband's network of contributors.

"I need everyone in this room to call every friend, every neighbor," she said. "I need you to get people to write $50 checks and $25 checks and to build a movement. If we grow this room from 1,200 to 2,400 . . .we'll do some good in the process."

The women's event, the first of such events the campaign plans for other cities starting in May, raised at least $750,000, said Obama finance chair Penny Pritzker.

The other leading candidates from both parties relied even more heavily on big-money donors than did Obama, ranging from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who raised 74 percent of his funds from those who contributed at least $1,000, to Republican Mitt Romney, who raised 89 percent from such contributions. Edwards, Clinton and Republican Rudolph Giuliani all fell within that range, according to the analysis by the Campaign Finance Institute.

Those percentages are broadly in line with the reliance that major candidates have placed on big-money donors during the same three-month period in the last two election cycles, according to the research group.Overall, small contributors — those who gave $200 or less — are funding a slightly smaller portion of the presidential primary campaign than they did during the same three-month period in 1999, the last time there was no incumbent in the White House running for re-election.

At least 400 people gave to both Clinton and Obama, according to the Tribune's analysis. That group included musician Barry Manilow, who gave the maximum legal limit of $2,300 in mid-February to both. The vast majority of those who doubled down were people who gave at least $1,000.

Chicago lawyer Michael Bauer, who serves on Obama's Illinois finance committee and raised at least $50,000 for him in the first quarter, also gave to both. But he stressed that he is limiting any fundraising efforts to just Obama.

"I have raised a good chunk of money for Obama, but I know Sen. Clinton well," he said, adding that he has also given to the Democratic presidential bids of Edwards and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. "I'm old friends with them all."

Tribune national correspondent Christi Parsons contributed to this report.