From small donors come big rewards

From his South Texas home, Chuck Barracato watches the news to see how Barack Obama is doing. When Barracato is moved by Obama's message or senses that the Illinois senator could use some help, he digs into his savings and chips in $25 for the candidate's presidential campaign.

Barracato's payments, sent by computer click, add up to $700, maybe a little more. It's not a big sum by the standards of political donations, but it's enough to make Barracato part of a movement that some experts believe is reshaping presidential fundraising.

"I am grass-roots," said Barracato, 68, a retired teacher who has gotten involved in the 2008 presidential campaign because of his opposition to the war in Iraq. "I am the itty-bitty guy behind the movement."

As he battles Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, Obama -- a onetime Chicago community organizer -- is increasingly relying on donors like Barracato to fuel his campaign.

Lately, the Obama fundraising approach has paid especially big dividends. It is easily outpacing Clinton's money-gathering operation, which began the race with a massive financial advantage and has relied more heavily on traditional big donors.

Clinton, by contrast, recently lent her campaign $5 million to ease a financial squeeze. Although Clinton aides insist they have plenty of money to compete, the campaign faces crucial contests March 4 in Ohio and Texas that each figure to cost $5 million or more.

The role of small donors is heartening advocates of campaign finance reform. Small donors, by definition, are not insiders seeking special access or favors in exchange for their largesse.

Obama has attracted high-end contributors too, who give the maximum $2,300 allowed by federal law per candidate during the primary season. But he has been particularly adept at cultivating small givers.

His campaign has amassed a huge bank of e-mail addresses that it taps to reach donors like Barracato. Obama has squirreled them away since he came onto the national scene with his 2004 speech to the Democratic National Convention.

He also has gathered them at his rallies. And he has received e-mail addresses previously gathered by some of his major endorsers -- Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Move- On.org, a political advocacy group.

The missives he sends are newsy and personalized with the prospective donor's first name. They generally indicate a specific dollar amount or number of donors the campaign is trying to bring in, and explain how the money will be used.