I just received this very impressive fundraising news from Tom Perriello (a candidate for the Democratic nomination to take on Virgil Goode in the 5th CD):
The final numbers are not official yet, but we have broken our bold $250,000 fundraising goal - and we reached the magic (and record-breaking) number at noon on Dec. 31, so a big thanks to everyone who helped us hit our target. We'll be making a public announcement once the numbers are final, but I wanted you to be the first to know, since it was your support that is sending a huge signal to the state and national party that we are ready to win in 2008.
I'll be very interested to see what other Democrats in the 5th raised, particularly David Shreve. Money's not everything, certainly, but unless and until there are major changes to the way we finance our political campaigns, it's important. Congratulations to Tom Perriello!
Most of his money appears to be from New York contributors. The data through the end of the year won't be available for a few weeks.
We've raised a lot of our money from independents and moderate Republicans who supported Virgil in 2006, and we've already seen a terrific outpouring of support from younger voters and first-time activists on college campuses. We're dedicated to building the largest grassroots organization this district has ever seen. The momentum and sense of hope are incredible and we have no intention of slowing down.
So I'm really excited about the diversity of our base of support, and I feel we have a ton of room to grow in the coming months.