The political classes aren't abuzz about Barack Obama's $31 million 2Q haul for the primaries as much as they are about the 258,000 contributors to his campaign this year, writes Time's Karen Tumulty. Obama has attracted these contributors partially on the strength of his viral marketing campaign that used the Web to combine small, individual donations to bring in more than $10 million. "But the point of viral fund raising isn't just to drive up dollar totals. Campaigns are hoping that the personal approach will yield donors who feel more personally connected to a candidate -- and who can later be converted into door knockers and phone bankers."
Reporters saw a measure of Obama's rock-star appeal yesterday at the National Education Association when he endorsed merit pay for teachers and didn't "draw any hisses with the pronouncement, and even got scattered applause" for the idea, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer's Thomas Fitzgerald. Obama promised more pay for teachers across the board and incentives for those willing to work in poor school districts. Obama also said he wouldn't back re-authorization of No Child Left Behind unless "reliance on standardized test scores was softened" and funding was increased.
Obama plans to co-sponsor legislation with Hillary Clinton to crackdown on Chinese "currency manipulation" by enacting tariffs on goods from China, reports the Financial Times' Eoin Callan.
Meanwhile, John Edwards wants to raise taxes on managers of private-equity firms and hedge funds, possibly from 15% today to as high as 35%, which is the level specified in a House bill, Bloomberg's Kim Chipman and Ryan Donmoyer report. Edwards, who worked for a hedge fund, is the first Democratic presidential candidate to announce support for the House bill. About two-thirds of contributions from "employees of the biggest hedge funds and buyout firms" went to Democrats last year and Edwards himself received $182,250 from the hedge fund he worked for in Q1.
Edwards is shaking up his staff by adding two leaders of a union-backed anti-Wal Mart outfit, one of whom was Howard Dean's political director in 2004. Campaign manager David Bonior plans to travel with Edwards and speak in public more often.
Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's possible entry into the race could harm Rudy Giuliani, writes the Washington Post's Alec MacGillis. Bloomberg may show voters that he governed New York as effectively as Giuliani but with less animosity. For Giuliani, the upside of a Bloomberg run would be to make him look more conservative, since Bloomberg has expressed "support for gun control and immigration."
Yesterday, Giuliani campaign manager Michael DuHaime said Giuliani's $15 million haul for the primaries will allow him to play in about a dozen states, like California, Florida, New York and New Jersey. In the general election, Giuliani could put Ohio, Florida and Iowa in play, DuHaime said.
In contrast, the cuts in John McCain's campaign are beginning to show in three states today. In Iowa, McCain has laid off 10 staffers, including his Iowa director and two aides tasked with reaching out to veterans and social conservatives, leaving just seven staffers, reports the Des Moines Register's Thomas Beaumont. The campaign also fired an aide responsible for the Ames straw poll that McCain backed out of last month. Three Iowa consultants have agreed to work without pay.
The Greenville News' Dan Hoover reports McCain's top South Carolina consultant Richard Quinn "will no longer be paid, campaign manager Trey Walker took a two-thirds pay cut, a new strategy position and will now share operational duties with Buzz Jacobs, the regional political director." The Miami Herald's Beth Reinhard reports that McCain's Florida consulting firm, state coordinator, and assistant to the finance director "are off the Florida payroll, leaving only McCain's finance director. A political director for Florida and other southeastern states moved to South Carolina full time."
McCain was in France while the cuts were announced, meeting with French president Nicolas Sarkozy to talk about climate change and Iraq.
Finally, ailing Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) got an official challenger in Republican state Rep. Joel Dykstra, who filed with the FEC yesterday, reports The Hill's Aaron Blake. Johnson hasn't indicated whether he'll run for a third term but he did raise $600,000 in 2Q with the help of colleagues.
Get these and today's other election stories at RCP's Politics and Elections page.
