WASHINGTON  – The Democratic National Committee raised $3.2 million in February, a strikingly low take for a financial juggernaut led by President Barack Obama and his legions of grass-roots supporters who helped him shatter campaign fundraising records.

Even the committee’s Republican counterpart raised more – $5.1 million – last month and did so under more difficult circumstances. The GOP was coming off of a disastrous election in which it lost the White House and saw its numbers in Congress shrink further. New GOP chairman Michael Steele also had a rocky start.

Overall, monthly reports being filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission show the Republican National Committee in healthier shape than the Democrats as both parties start raising money for special congressional elections and governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey this year, as well as congressional elections in 2010.

The DNC reported $8.6 million on hand and $7 million in debt, while the RNC reported $24 million in the bank and no debt.

Democrats are hardly broke. They still have an energized base of donors led by Obama, who ended 2008 with some $18 million in his presidential campaign account. He transferred $2 million to the DNC in February. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also is a fundraising draw.

Democrats attributed the small February collection to several factors.

Obama has yet to take part in any major fundraiser; his first event for the DNC is set for Wednesday in Washington. Democrats have been mindful of the potential backlash if the president diverts attention from trying to solve the nation’s economic woes for campaign activities.

The party also says it has not aggressively used Obama’s 13-million strong e-mail list to raise money. Rather, the list has been tapped primarily for organizational purposes. Still, Democrats were raising at least some money through the Internet, sending out appeals that tagged conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh as the new leader of the GOP.

At the same time, the DNC’s new chairman, Tim Kaine, remains Virginia’s governor and is essentially a part-time party chairman until his term ends later this year.

A $3.7 billion budget shortfall kept Kaine all but tied to Richmond until the state legislative session ended Feb. 28. While the legislature was in session, a state law prohibited Kaine from raising money for his own political action committee or the state leadership committee he runs although he could help with cash for the party.

By comparison, in February 2005, after George W. Bush won re-election and with Republicans controlling Congress, the RNC raised $12.5 million under new chairman Ken Mehlman.

The DNC raised $6.5 million during that period when its party was out of power at both ends of Pennsylvania Ave. That included a $1 million transfer from failed presidential candidate John Kerry.

WASHINGTON – Party officials say the Democratic National Committee has a $15 million debt in the wake of the Nov. 4 election.

The party took out loans to cover a surge of expenditures in the final weeks of the campaign. President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, issued an e-mail appeal for contributions Wednesday to help the party committee get out of the red.

Plouffe wrote: “Our friends at the Democratic National Committee laid it all on the line to bring change this year. We’ve been reviewing the books, and the DNC went into considerable debt to secure victory for Barack and Joe. It took unprecedented resources to staff up all 50 states, train field organizers, and build the technology to reach as many swing voters as possible.”

RALEIGH, N.C. – A former Democratic National Committee chairman apologized Sunday for suggesting that Hurricane Gustav’s expected arrival as Republicans prepare to open their national convention is a sign God favors Democrats.

During a flight from Denver to Charlotte last Friday, Don Fowler – who was DNC chair in 1995 and 1996 – was recorded telling a fellow passenger that it appeared Gustav would make landfall today.

“That just demonstrates that God is on our side,” Fowler added, according to a video posted on YouTube under the headline: “Fowler Fouls: Hurricane is God’s Favor To Democrats.”

The person who recorded the conversation is not identified. The person whom Fowler was talking to is not visible in the video, but was identified on the conservative Web site www.redstate.com as Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C.

On Sunday, Fowler told The Associated Press that he was making fun of comments made by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said the attacks were God’s punishment for abortion, homosexuality and other sins.

“This is a point of national concern. I think everybody of good will has great empathy and sympathy for people in New Orleans,” Fowler said. “Most religious people are praying for people in New Orleans. There is no political connotation to this whatsoever. This was just poking fun at Jerry Falwell and the nonsensical thing he had said several years ago.”

On the 45th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, Congressman John Lewis of Georgia set the stage by stating that “We prove that a dream still burns in the hearts of every American, that this dream was too right, too necessary, too noble to ever die.”

Senator Barack Obama delivered the speech that he needed to deliver last night.  He looked like the President of the United States standing at that podium.  He spoke about big themes but also laid out a plan for America’s future.  He clearly is ready to lead us forward and I am ready to do whatever I can to get him there.

I was touched by the speech but even more touched by the reactions of some of my fellow North Carolina delegates.  I watched the African American delegates who had participated in the Civil Rights Movement before I was even born see the culmination of their dreams come true.

There were tears in their eyes as Senator Obama spoke his first words accepting the nomination for President of the United States.

I was there to witness history last night, but the real work begins now.

This campaign is going to be hard fought from the grassroots to the grasstops.  People are energized, people are voting for the first time and people are participating in our great democracy.

NEW YORK- Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention was seen by more than 38 million people.

Nielsen Media Research said more people watched Obama speak than watched the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, the final “American Idol” or the Academy Awards this year. Obama talked before a live audience of 80,000 people in Denver.

His TV audience nearly doubled the amount of people who watched John Kerry accept the Democratic nomination to run against President Bush four years ago. Kerry’s speech was seen by just over 20 million people.

Obama’s audience might be higher, since Nielsen didn’t have an estimate for how many people watched Obama on PBS or C-SPAN Thursday night.

Reaction to Obama’s speech from those who attended last night’s event:

- “It was history, something we’ve been waiting years for,” said Ed Booth, of Washington, N.C. “We’ve got to go home and continue to work to make change we so need.”

- “This changes everything for all of us,” said Mike Nelson, 45, of Hillsborough, N. C., mentioning his five and six-year-old nephew and niece. “This means they live in a very different world than I do. After tonight it’s a very, very different world than they had last week.”

- “They really brought the party together” said Erica Smith, a Clinton supporter from Mount Airy, N.C.

BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell Law School student Phillip Gilfus has been elected as one of five North Carolina Democratic National Committee (DNC) members.

Gilfus, a third-year law student, will take office for a four-year term today in Denver, Colorado, following the end of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

At the age of 27, Gilfus is one of the youngest people elected from North Carolina to the DNC and, as a former U.S. Army captain, will be the first veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom to serve on the national party.

“It will certainly be a challenge being a full-time law student and a national party member, but I’ve received great support from the law school,” Gilfus said in a press release. “The world doesn’t stand still for the three years I’m in school, and this opportunity allows me to serve on a national level. I’ll still be a good law student, but will also be taking my studies outside of the classroom.”

For Triangle residents who didn’t make it to Denver, but want to watch Barack Obama’s acceptance speech with a group, check out one of several watch parties in our area tonight:

Area
Dozens of area watch parties are listed at an Obama campaign sponsored site. The list includes parties in most Triangle towns. You can find one near you here.

Cary
Galaxy Cinema, an independent arthouse theater, will present a Mile High Watch Party from 7 to 11 p.m.  Tickets for the event are free, but seating is limited and advance registrations are suggested. The theater is located at 770 Cary Towne Blvd., near Cary Towne Center, just off I-40 Exit 291. 

The theater can seat as many as 250 in its screening room. The theater also offers WiFi and voter registration. In addition, a local women’s a capella group, Fleur de Lisa,  will be leading 200 people in a sing-a-long  of an original song they wrote for Obama.  Listen to the song.

To learn more, contact Kim Yaman at Galaxy Cinema at 919-463-9959 or mygalaxycinema@gmail.com. 

Raleigh
Raleigh’s Acceptance Speech Watch Party – 9 p.m.
Raleigh Field Office, 130 E. Morgan Street

Durham
Duke University’s Democrats and College Republicans will be holding viewing parties on campus to watch their respective national conventions.

The Duke Democrats will convene in the Richard White Lecture Hall on East Campus from 7 to 11:30 tonight.

The Republican viewing party will take place Thursday.

For more information about the Democratic watch party, contact Benjamin Bergmann, president of the Duke Democrats, at ben.bergmann@duke.eduor (352) 562-5957. For details on the Republican event, contact Vikram Srinivasan, chairman of the College Republicans, at vikram.srinivasan@duke.edu or (408) 410-1521.

Fayetteville
State Rep. Rick Glazier will speak at the watch party at Dock’s at the Capitol, 126 Hay Street. The free event begins at 9 p.m.

DENVER – Democrats were poised to formally deliver the party’s presidential nomination to Barack Obama on Wednesday, making him the first black nominee of a major party. While the historic outcome was certain, suspense remained over how a vote of delegates would proceed, and for how long.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, presiding officer of the Democratic National Convention, predicted roll-call voting after the names of both Obama and one-time rival Hillary Rodham Clinton are put in nomination, would go “very smoothly.”

“Are you ready for victory? Then you must be ready for unity. That is the only way we are going to win and have this victory,” she told Iowa’s convention delegates.
 
Many details remained unknown, however, including how many states would vote before somebody – probably Clinton herself – asks the delegates to give the nomination to Obama by acclamation.

Clinton, who made a ringing, unqualified endorsement of her former rival in a prime-time convention speech Tuesday, planned to meet with all her delegates in early afternoon and was expected to make a statement at that time. She won 18 million votes in primary-season contests but failed to earn her party’s nomination.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who had been a Clinton supporter, said he expected the New York senator to say that she would cast her vote for Obama.

“I’m going to cast my vote for Senator Obama if Hillary Clinton says she’s going to cast her vote for Senator Obama,” Rendell said.

Obama, who was due to arrive in the convention city mid-afternoon Wednesday, will give his acceptance speech on Thursday to as many as 75,000 people at nearby Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium.

Then, on Friday, Obama, his wife Michelle and running mate Joe Biden and his wife Jill will embark on a bus tour of battleground states Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.

Biden was to address the convention Wednesday night, as was former President Clinton, whose support for Obama has seemed tepid at best. Earlier this month, for instance, the former president sidestepped a question on whether Obama was prepared for the White House. “You could argue that no one’s every ready to be president,” Clinton told ABC News.

Representatives of the Clinton and Obama teams struck a deal setting ground rules for Wednesday’s roll call vote that will hand the nomination to Obama, but will also allow Clinton supporters to express their support for her.

Advisers to Clinton and Obama sent a joint letter to state delegation chairs instructing them to distribute vote tally sheets to delegates Wednesday and return them before the vote gets under way.

The letter, first obtained Tuesday night by The Associated Press, said Clinton would have one nominating speech and two seconding speeches, followed by Obama’s nominating speech and three seconding speeches – totaling no more than 15 minutes for each candidate. Then the roll call will begin, said the letter signed by Obama senior adviser Jeff Berman, Clinton senior adviser Craig Smith and convention secretary Alice Germond.

The roll call will continue until all votes are counted or someone asks the delegates to give the nomination to Obama by acclamation.

Democratic officials close to Clinton say they plan to have someone – perhaps the senator herself – cut off the vote after a few states.

Yet to be announced: who would make the nominating speeches and how long the roll call vote would be allowed to proceed.

Kathleen Krehbiel, an Iowa delegate who had supported Clinton, credited the New York senator’s convention speech for finally persuading her to cross the line and vote for Obama.

“My horse is out of the race. I’m getting out to work for Obama,” Krehbiel said. But, she added, “I think there are a few delegates who need to vote for Hillary to reach that point of closure.”

In a sign of unity, Obama adviser Berman and Clinton adviser Smith told delegates on Wednesday that they have been working out of the same office all week to ensure a smooth convention.

“The story is that we are working as a team,” Berman said.

Anticipating Wednesday night’s focus on national security at the convention, Republican John McCain contended in a new TV ad that Obama showed he was “dangerously unprepared” for the White House when he described Iran as a “tiny” nation that didn’t pose a serious threat.

“Iran. Radical Islamic government. Known sponsors of terrorism. Developing nuclear capabilities to ‘generate power’ but threatening to eliminate Israel,” says the ad, which was being run in key states. “Terrorism, destroying Israel – those aren’t ’serious threats”‘?

Missing from the ad was the context of Obama’s remarks last May in which he compared Iran and other adversarial governments to the superpower Soviet Union. “They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us,” he said in arguing for talks with Iran. “You know, Iran, they spend one-100th of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Bill Clinton in his speech was expected to criticize McCain and on the Bush administration, particularly on the state of the U.S. economy.