Rand Paul Money Bomb Falls Short
Shira Toeplitz reports that the Paul Campaign's latest attempt at a fundraising "money-bomb" seems to have fallen short of its goals:
Republican Rand Paul's latest money bomb appears to have, well, bombed.
While the Kentucky Senate nominee raised an impressive $258,000 in his two-day fundraising quest Thursday and Friday, that's far short of the $400,000-plus his campaign hoped to raise.
Paul won the GOP nomination in large part because of support from tea party activists and fundraising boosted by regular money bombs — short online fundraising drives — that originated during his father's 2008 presidential bid, and proved to be profitable.
Since Paul won the general election, however, he's had trouble keeping up the enthusiasm from his online activist base and tea party members. In a Facebook friend drive earlier this month, Paul's campaign aimed to get 100,000 people to sign up for his Web page — but fell about 40,000 people short.Paul set out to beat his fundraising record of $436,000 from last year's August money bomb, according to an interview published Aug. 18 with the libertarian website Liberty Maven and later posted to his official Facebook page.
"Last year on Aug. 20 — my dad's 74th birthday — the 'Run Rand Run' Money Bomb raised $436,000 in 24 hours. This year, for two days on August 19-20, we're hoping to meet or exceed that goal," Paul told Liberty Maven.
Paul also reminds supporters in both an e-mail and a video that his opponent, Democratic nominee Jack Conway, put more than $500,000 of his own funds into the race. The website also shows a bar graph for the fundraising drive only about half-full of cash and a $500,000 top line.
Nonetheless, Paul's haul is more than he's raised in recent money bombs. A money bomb on June 28 had a set goal of $100,000 that was surpassed when Paul's campaign brought in $172,000 in two days. Before Paul won the primary in late March, a money bomb brought in $262,000 in 24 hours.
The fundraiser also gives a much-needed boost to Paul's fundraising. Both Paul and Conway were hurting for funds after hard-fought May primaries. At the end of June, Conway reported $700,000 in the bank and Paul reported $319,000 cash on hand.
