For The Love Of Money

Barack Obama's current list of donors is 1.5 million. Hillary's endorsement today is going to net him a bunch more, maybe another half a million. John Kerry's full list of donors in 2004 numbered 3 million. There's no question he's going to have at least that many people donating to him through the general election. And so we're in the very strange place of having a Democratic nominee who can throw money around against the Republican.

Sen. Barack Obama will head into the general election with the ability to raise significantly more money than his Republican opponent, an extremely rare position for a Democrat and one that could give him a huge advantage in mobilizing supporters, reaching voters and competing across the country.

Party leaders say they expect Obama to surpass the more than quarter-billion dollars he amassed during the primaries, buoyed by a fundraising list with more than 1.5 million names, an uncommon knack for attracting money online and the expected addition of scores of established bundlers who helped bankroll Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign.

Obama's advantage, which could stretch into the tens of millions over Republican Sen. John McCain, would allow the senator from Illinois to build a far more robust field operation and let him drench radio and television airwaves in a much broader array of states, including those where Democrats do not traditionally compete. He would also have enough money to enjoy the luxury of making mistakes, whereas any poor choices McCain makes would be felt much more acutely.

It's the field operation where I think this cash is really going to help Obama. If he can organize at the precinct level and put a million volunteers on the streets in the general election, the advantage is going to be overwhelming. McCain just doesn't have that kind of grassroots support. Moreover, if McCain is spending all his time chasing money while Obama lets it roll in online, there's a significant gap in what can be done in personal appearances, too.

And Obama is playing the "will you take public money for the general election" question just right.

On campaign finance. Obama said he'll accept public financing for his campaign — which would limit the amount of spending — only if McCain agrees to curb spending by the Republican National Committee. "I won't disarm unilaterally," he said.

The RNC has a huge war chest and is using a "Victory Fund" to combine fundraising strength with McCain. It's absolutely right to suggest that their presence in the race is forcing Obama to use his own funders to support his campaign. That's the right answer.