The two Democratic Presidential candidates, Sen. Barak Obama (D-IL) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) have raised an estimated $68.5 million in online contributions, whereas the Republican Presidential candidates, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee have raised an estimated $18 million in online contributions, based on an analysis of donors by amount of contributions provided by the Center for Responsive Politics, Washington, DC.  However, level of caution is required, since there is no official breakdown of donors by form of receipt, forcing independent analysis to focus on the size of contribution, since most concede the lower the amount, the more probable by the Internet.  The Center for Responsive Politics provides data by number of donors making $200 or less contributions.  Experts assert relying on the candidates’ own statements may not be statistically reliable.

According to the analysis, Senator Obama is the clear online contribution front runner, raising an estimated $46.9 million or 54.3% share of all online contributions.  Mrs. Clinton is second, raising $21.5 million, which represents 24.8% of the total online contributions.  Senator McCain is a distant third, $12.8 million, or 14.9% of all online contributions.  Governor Huckabee is last, with $5.1 million, 5.9% of total online contributions.  More information on campaign contribution data can be had at www.OpenSecrets.org.

Assuming that actual online contributions parallel the estimates, the GOP significantly trails the Democrats in capitalizing on online contributions, a point David All of RepublicanTech.com makes in his interview with the San Jose Mercury, posted below.