Obama campaign rakes in the dough after Iowa

Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) presidential campaign is raising contributions at the rate of $1 million a day so far this year, campaign manager David Plouffe said in a message to supporters Wednesday.

“In the first eight days of 2008, we raised over $8 million and gained 35,000 new donors. Since midnight last night, we have raised another $500,000 online,” Plouffe stated. “We continue to build a grassroots movement that makes us best-positioned to compete financially in the primaries and caucuses coming up.”

{mosads}Plouffe added that the campaign raised $23.5 million in the last quarter of 2007 and attracted a total of 475,000 donors last year.

Looking ahead to the upcoming contests, the campaign manager said Obama has built a formidable caucus operation in Nevada.

“We have also been reaching deep into the electorate, securing commitments to caucus from habitual Democratic voters, general election voting Democrats and Independents,” he said. Plouffe also noted that the Illinois senator has received the endorsement of Nevada’s Service Employees International Union.

The campaign official also noted that Obama has been leading the polls in South Carolina.

“We have by far the strongest organization in the state according to neutral observers and believe that, as the gateway to Feb. 5, South Carolina will provide our campaign enormous momentum heading into those 22 states,” Plouffe stated.

He also predicted that Obama will begin receiving more support from so-called Democratic superdelegates, an area in which Clinton has held a large edge.

“To fully execute a robust Feb. 5 strategy, it will take tens of millions of dollars,” Plouffe added. “Our financial picture is strong and growing stronger by the day, which will allow us to have a significant paid media presence to go alongside our grassroots operations in our target Feb. 5 states.”