CAMPAIGN FUNDS

Barack Obama broke records in fund raising this past quarter. With $32.5 million, he surpassed Hillary Clinton’s $27 million. John Edwards was in third place with $9 million. Of course he had some help from unofficial fund raiser Ann Coulter, who kept saying nasty things about Edwards so he could use her statements to get more contributions. Edwards also raised his fund raising base to 100,000 donors.

The Republicans have not announced their figures, but Senator McCain’s campaign has stated that they do not expect to meet their fund-raising goals, while Mitt Romney’s expects to exceed theirs.

Where does Democratic candidate Dr. Carl Perrin stand in all this? Donations to the Perrin campaign are up too. It may not sound like much compared to $32.5 million and $27 million, etc, but Perrin now has $23.73 in his campaign fund. A good part of this was from the $10 bill that Perrin found in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Brick, NJ. “It was like some public-spirited citizen deliberately left the ten spot as a contribution to my campaign.” Perrin said.

Although Perrin’s fund may seem paltry compared to funds in the million dollars, he remains upbeat. Donations are up, he says, and there’s a long way to go to the primaries. He’s not going to spend a lot of money getting his name out there because a lot of people already know him. Then at the last minute he will mount a media blitz to end all media blitzes.

“Besides,” Perrin adds with a smug smile, “my people in Maine are collecting returnable bottles for my campaign. They have almost $20 worth of bottles waiting for me at the ‘Perrin for President’ headquarters in Maine.”