•  Campaign Videos (January 2012) « Obama for America
  

[Music] Jim Messina: Hi everyone, it's Jim Messina.  I wanted to give you a quick update on our fundraising this quarter.  The good news is thanks to thousands of people across this country we had a pretty good quarter, but we've got a challenge that I want to talk to you about. 

Here's the news.  This quarter we raised over $68 million and that's a pretty good start. 

And the number I care the most about, how may people are joining this campaign: over 1.3 million Americans have given this campaign money. 

Even more important, this quarter we had 583,000 people donate to the campaign.  Over 200,000 people gave for the very first time.  They didn't even give in 2008 or 2011; they joined this quarter.  That's a really big number.

Over 98-percent of our donations were $250 or less, showing our grassroots support across the country.

This enthusiasm is in stark contrast to what we've seen on the other side, where recent polls and studies show a dropping enthusiasm among Republican primary voters as they get to know their field.

We've seen just the opposite from you.  We've seen real volunteer enthusiasm as we've built really strong neighborhood teams for the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary.

But we also have a challenge that keeps coming up.  Too many Obama supporters think we don't need their money or they don't  need to give now.  In fact in the past week I've gotten emails that say "Oh you don't need our money now" or "You're going to raise a billion dollars why do you need my money?" 

Look, I totally get why people would think that, but they're completely wrong.  First the billion dollar number is completely untrue.  And second, we have to build a neighborhood organization on the ground now, not in six months and that takes your donations and your resources today.

Our department heads need to start spending to build the kind of grassroots campaign we know we're going to need in November.

The only way this thing works is if each of you take a piece of this campaign and help build the best grassroots campaign in modern political history.  That means giving now and giving as much as you can between now and when Barack Obama wins in November. 

We don't take money from Washington lobbyist or special interest PACs.  We won in 2008 because every single supporter and volunteer gave their role in the this campaign is absolutely essential to us winning.

But now we're in danger of letting that very belief slip through our fingers this time.

Some people think we have a magic formula to win this campaign.  What we really have is you. 

And when we get an opponent, we'll be facing their fundraising operation as well as all the outside groups that have already started spending money for them.

But what we have is grassroots.  Our opponents don't have the kind of grassroots operation we have.  In fact, they don't even believe in it.  Last week the Republican Party filed a court brief asking that corporations be allowed to contribute directly to campaigns.  We have a very different view of how to do politics.  We think that grassroots campaigns start with small donations and volunteer efforts from people all across this country—people like you.

The president is doing all he can to get on the trail and raise support for this campaign.  But look, he has the day job, and his schedule just doesn't allow him to do very much fundraising, so he's relying on you and me to do our parts to build this campaign. 

You're the reason why the president got this job, and you're the reason why he's going to keep it.  So that's it.  Keep working hard, keep giving, keep volunteering, and please forward this video to anyone who asks you why they need to join the campaign or give money.  Thanks very much.

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Notes: It's a little odd when he speaks looking over to the side, as if there is another camera there (maybe there was?). Also, it seems like a bad edit at the 2:05 minute mark.

Copyright © 2012 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.