Obama raised record $150 million in September with 632,000 new donors

Bumped: John first put this up at 6:28 a.m.

Wow. I had to post this, as I just woke up and heard this via an Obama video. Wow. I know this is a record, but I suspect Joe will weigh in shortly and let us know how big a deal this really is.

UPDATE from Joe: This is nothing short of stunning. For the past week or so, there was a lot of speculation that the Obama campaign might have broken $100 million, which would have been a huge accomplishment. The biggest month before this was the $66 million raised in August. According to the campaign, there were 632,000 new donors, bringing the total number of people who contributed to the campaign to 3.1 million. Average contribution is $86.

My guess is the money started pouring in during the Republican convention and never stopped. Sarah Palin did a lot to help. Keep in mind, September was a trying month. McCain surged into the lead after his convention and kept it for much of the month. That helped to invigorate our side, too.

Given the onslaught of negative, vicious attacks on Obama, he'll need every cent of this -- and more. This is going to make the Republicans even crazier. But, it also has to be demoralizing. They're usually the ones with more money and this must feel like a tidal wave of cash pouring over them. It is a tidal wave of support that can crush the GOP.

The decision to forsake the public campaign finance system was one of the best moves the Obama campaign made. It made Senator Cranky even crankier -- and annoyed some of the pundits, like David Broder, who love and adore Senator Cranky. But, it was a brilliant move.

Over $150 million. Wow. Just wow.