Bush raises $1.75 million on Wednesday alone
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RIVERSIDE, California (CNN) -- President Bush raised $1.75 million Wednesday during two stops in California, his campaign spokesman told CNN, proving once again that the president has the golden touch with fund-raising.
The president raised $750,000 during the day in Fresno, and $1 million at an evening event in Riverside, spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
That brings to $51.25 million the amount Bush has raked in for his re-election bid over the past three months, campaign officials have said. The president now has more than $70 million in his campaign war chest.
A tally of estimates provided by the six leading Democrats adds up to roughly $34.5 million for the third quarter, with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean in the lead. His campaign reported about $15 million for the third quarter.
Estimates were not available for candidates Al Sharpton, Dennis Kucinich and Carol Moseley Braun, but their fund-raising efforts have trailed the other Democrats, a pattern that suggests the Democrats will not come near Bush's third-quarter total.
To put Bush's prodigious fund-raising in context, consider that President Clinton, at this point in his re-election campaign in 1995, had raked in about $19.5 million for the entire year, according to Federal Election Commission figures. The 1995 figure was not adjusted for inflation.
Despite the administration's oft-stated comment that Bush is not focused on the 2004 campaign, the president has taken an active role in fund-raising for his campaign. Roughly 83 percent of the $49.5 million raised from July through September and the $84 million raised overall came from fund-raising events that the president or vice president attended, campaign aides said.
According to Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman, approximately 262,000 donors contributed money to the Bush campaign in the third quarter, from 99 percent of all counties in the United States. Approximately 145,000 donations were for less than $200, and about 200,000 were first-time donors to the Bush-Cheney effort.
All donors to the president's re-election bid are listed on campaign's Web site, along with lists of elite fund-raisers known as "Rangers," who collect at least $200,000 in contributions, and "Pioneers," who each raise at least $100,000. The campaign has also created a new fund-raising status called "Mavericks," for donors under age 40 who collect at least $50,000 for the campaign coffers.
One area where Dean is likely to out-raise Bush is in contributions made through the Internet. Bush has raised $2.1 million so far this year through online donations; by comparison, Dean raised $3 million on the Internet over a nine-day period in June.
-- CNN White House Correspondent Dana Bash, CNN Senior Political Researcher Robert Yoon, and CNN.com Producer Sean Loughlin contributed to this report.
