The amount of money the Obama campaign announced that it raised in the month of September. This included 632,000 new donors bringing the campaign’s total to 3.1 million. The average contribution was $86.

Sen. Barack Obama’s small donors [NY Times]

Sen. Fred Thompson continues to “test the waters” [NY Times]

Sen. John Edwards hits the poverty trail [Washington Post]

Dow Jones, Murdoch Reach a Deal [Wahington Post]

Mitt Romney likes to spend [Boston Globe]

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty to endorse Obama [Washington Post]

David Vitter speaks [The Times-Picayune]

Hillary Clinton Backers Retire Vilsack’s Debt [LA Times]

has just released his first quarter fundraising numbers. He has raised $25 million from over 100,000 individuals – just a little under what Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign raised in her first quarter. Read more here. The race is on!

There’s blood in the water for Republicans. Adam Nagourney of the New York Times has a piece this morning outlining the Republicans’ new strategy for 2006: stop the bleeding! Republicans have historically had the financial advantage leading up to elections and this has allowed them to stay competitive and fight for all seats throughout the country.

While they still have the financial edge, it seems that the GOP is looking to cut its losses and and stop the Democratic onslaught. This strategy will most likely have a significant impact on Sherrod Brown in Ohio where he is beginning to pull away from Senator Mike DeWine.

From the NYTimes:

Senior Republican leaders have concluded that Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, a pivotal state in this year’s fierce midterm election battles, is likely to be heading for defeat and are moving to reduce financial support for his race and divert party money to other embattled Republican senators, party officials said.

The decision to effectively write off Mr. DeWine’s seat, after a series of internal Republican polls showed him falling behind his Democratic challenger, is part of a fluid series of choices by top leaders in both parties as they set the strategic framework of the campaign’s final three weeks, signaling, by where they are spending television money and other resources, the Senate and House races where they believe they have the best chances of success.

Republicans are now pinning their hopes of holding the Senate on three states — Missouri, Tennessee and, with Ohio off the table, probably Virginia — while trying to hold on to the House by pouring money into districts where Republicans have a strong historical or registration advantage, party officials said Sunday. Republicans also said they would run advertisements in New Jersey this week to test the vulnerability of Senator Robert Menendez, one of the few Democrats who appear endangered.

To read the rest of the NYTimes article click here.

This thing is FAR from over and now is the time to get to work to ensure that Democrats capitalize on this momentum.

Washington DC’s insider newspaper The Hill is reporting that Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe will chair Sen. Hillary Clinton’s 2008 bid for the Presidency.

T-Mack is an incredible fundraiser and good friends of the Clinton’s. He’s a powerhouse and a good grab for Hillary.

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe has told business associates and Democratic donors that he will chair Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) presidential campaign next year, according to several Democratic sources.

Together, Clinton, the favorite to win the Democratic nomination, and McAuliffe, the top money man in Democratic politics, have a good chance of raising $100 million before the first official contest, the Iowa caucuses in January 2008.

But the question remains, does Terry want the job?

“Would I have a huge role on the campaign? Of course, that’s not real news. People know that I have has been around lining up people if she decides to run.”

UPDATE FROM POLITICAL WIRE:

“Dumbest thing I ever heard.”

– Former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe, quoted by the New York Daily News, on reports that he would chair Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) presidential campaign in 2008.

While things have been a bit slow here at DoubleSpeak so far this summer, rest assured that we will be back with new episodes very soon featuring some outstanding candidates from around the country. One of these candidates that we’re tremendously excited about is Darcy Burner, the Democratic challenger in the Washington 8th congressional district. If you don’t already know Darcy, you’re going to love her.

Not only is she a great candidate, she’s also looking more and more like a winner. With the second quarter fundraising numbers in, Burner is outraising her opponent, has more cash on hand, and is gathering some serious momentum.

Democratic challenger Darcy Burner reports $590,561 in contributions compared to GOP incumbent Rep. Dave Reichert’s $569,077.

What with a nearly unprecedented presidential visit and numerous other high profile fundraisers, I had just assumed Reichert would significantly outraise Burner in the second quarter, and to be honest, I was all prepared to spin a good second-place showing by Burner into a rhetorical victory. Now that I don’t have to, I’m virtually speechless.

And once again Burner spent less to raise more, closing the all important cash-on-hand gap to about $340,000. Burner now sits on $770,000 in reserves compared to Reichert’s $1.11 million.

This was Burner’s most impressive fundraising quarter to date, and according to the DCCC her $1.13 million total thus far puts her in the top fundraising tier for Democratic House challengers nationwide.

We’ll have more on Darcy Burner soon but in the meantime, you can volunteer or contribute to help the campaign.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT) is off and running in his quest to win the Democratic nomination in 2008. According to the Hartford Courant, Dodd raised $1 million dollars this week in his first major push for presidential bucks ($$).

Dodd’s greatest need is to come up with a campaign kitty that will be considered viable. In the insular world of early presidential politics, activists look to the money figures as evidence of credibility and support.

Dodd had about $2 million on hand last month, a number that will clearly grow because of the fundraiser. But he still lags well behind others, notably New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has an estimated $20 million on hand, and 2004 Democratic nominee John F. Kerry, who has about $17 million.

Also considered potentially impressive fundraisers are former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and 2004 vice president nominee John Edwards.

You might be asking yourself, who is Sen. Chris Dodd and why does he think he can be President of these United States?? Read up on him. If he can raise $1 million a week for the next 100 weeks, he’s golden.

The AP reports that Sen. Radical Rick Santorum (R-PA) has $9 million in the bank in his race against presumptive Democratic nominee Bob Casey (D).

Sen. Rick Santorum raised more than $3 million in the first three months of the year, which gives him a 2-to-1 cash advantage over his leading Democratic opponent, according to paperwork filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Santorum finished the quarter that ended March 31 with more than $9 million cash on hand compared to the $4.5 million that state Treasurer Bob Casey has in the bank, Santorum’s campaign said Monday.

Santorum has raised more than $16 million for his November election battle. Casey has raised more than $8 million – $2.2 million of which was in the first quarter of 2006, his campaign said.

The two are expected to face each other in November in what has been billed as one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races. Polls have shown Casey with a double-digit lead.

Chris Bowers over at MyDD has done his first comprehensive assessment of the 2006 House Congressional races and he has high hopes for Democrats. In Part I, he turns to 12 seats (AZ-08, CA-50, CO-07, CT-02, CT-04, FL-22, IA-01, IN-09, KY-04, NM-01, PA-06, and TX-22) where the Democratic challenger leads in cash and in the polls. While Chris might be just a bit optimistic, he believes we could pick up all 12 seats.

If Democrats move a national vote deficit of 2.5% to an advantage of 9.5%, there will not be a single seat that they won in 2004 that they will lose in 2006, barring some major scandal or something. The election environment could change, of course, but this forecast is for right now. I forecast all twelve of these seats switching to D’s, and no Republican pickups at all. That would make the House 220-215.

In Part II he also discusses 8 races (CT-05, IL-06, MN-01, NV-03, PA-08, OH-01, OH-15, and WA-08) where help from the netroots, the blogosphere, and grassroots fundraising could make the difference. There are some tremendous candidates here so please go read these valuables posts and consider sending some money towards these Democratic Congressman-to-be. You can even start on our Get Involved page.

Winning these first 12 seats combined with the final 8 would put Democrats in control of the House, with subpoena powers and the ability to once again move our national agenda in a positive direction.

On a side note, stay tuned for Nick Lampson who is running against Tom DeLay in the Texas 22nd on DoubleSpeak very soon.

Interesting post from DailyKos today regarding the various political PACs and their fundraising totals. I was most taken with Edwards’ totals- only $625,000 which seems low for a guy who has more national name recognition than many of the potential ‘08 candidates and who doesn’t have a day job (it’s about hope!) to hold him down in terms of fundraising. Here are the totals:

Warner
Forward Together PAC
2005 total: $3.3 million
COH on 12/31/05: $2.4 million

Vilsack
Heartland PAC (not a federal PAC)
2005 total: $1.6 million
COH on 12/31/05: $1 million

Bayh
All America PAC
2005 total: $379K
COH on 12/31/05: $819K

Kerry
Keeping America’s Promise PAC
2005 total: $1.4 million
COH on 12/31/05: $488K

Feingold
Progressive Patriots PAC
2005 total: $595K
COH on 12/31/05: $289K

Biden
Unite Our States PAC
2005 total: $539K
COH on 12/31/05: $240K

Clinton
HillPAC
2005 total: $113K
COH on 12/31/05: $71K

Clark
WesPAC
2005 total: $383K
COH on 12/31/05: $48K

Edwards
One America Committee
2005 total: $625K
COH on 12/31/05: $23K