华盛顿——民主党总统候选人乔·拜登在8月筹集了3.64亿美元，这是一个创纪录的数额，这将使他有足够的资源在竞选的最后两个月与总统竞争唐纳德·特朗普。
拜登在初选初期努力筹集资金。但是自从他在春天成为假定的被提名人后，资金已经投入到他的竞选中。今年7月，他几乎终结了特朗普所享有的巨大手头现金优势，特朗普持有3亿美元的储备。
拜登在周三宣布的8月份总支持率，显示了民主党人将特朗普赶下台的热情。
大量的新捐款来自基层支持者和财力雄厚的捐赠者，这应该会缓解人们对民主党是否能够淹没关键州的广播的挥之不去的担忧。
拜登在给支持者的信中写道:“这些数字让我感到谦卑。”“即使是在全球经济衰退的情况下，工薪家庭也会拿出一部分钱来支持这场运动，而且一点点积累起来也很大。”
已经有迹象表明拜登资金充裕。
周一，该活动宣布本周将花费4500万美元进行广播和数字活动。这个时长60秒的节目节选自拜登周一在匹兹堡的演讲，当时他反驳了特朗普将自己描绘成暴力和动乱支持者的努力，这些暴力和动乱已经在俄勒冈州波特兰和威斯康星州克诺沙等城市爆发。
拜登在特拉华州威尔明顿(Wilmington)的一次演讲后对记者表示:“我不得不花很多时间来反驳这些谎言。”他指的是特朗普及其盟友的不准确言论，以及一个名为“保护美国”的政治行动委员会最近的广告。
保护美国，最近发起了一个超过2000万美元的攻击拜登的广告活动，由一个领导真理之舟老兵的共和党战略家监督。该组织通过误导性的广告，质疑民主党人约翰·克里在越南战争中的记录，帮助其赢得了2004年的总统竞选。
他们开始在战场州播放反对拜登的广告，主角是一名遇害警官的遗孀，她质疑拜登是否支持执法，并错误地暗示他宽恕“暴乱和抢劫。”拜登多次公开反对动乱。
特朗普尚未公布8月份的筹款数字。但是他的竞选团队最近承认这是在为劳动节之后存钱。尽管特朗普计划在2010年前花2亿美元做广告选举最近，他们的竞选活动在电视上基本上是一片黑暗。
根据广告数据，特朗普的竞选团队本周在广告上额外投入了600万美元，尽管他的支出仍比拜登多近一倍，而且是在拜登宣布他新的4500万美元广告计划之前。
民主党官员将8月份筹集的资金归因于对特朗普的反感、加州参议员卡马拉·哈里斯(Kamala Harris)被选为拜登的副总统候选人，以及一次展示拜登同情心的大会。
民主党全国委员会的财政主席克里斯·科尔吉说:“唐纳德·特朗普是政治史上最伟大的筹款工具。”
这笔钱是与挪威船级社共同筹集的。尽管候选人面临每人2800美元的限制选举拜登还可以通过与民主党全国委员会的联合筹款委员会筹集更多的资金，该委员会允许他收集价值超过70万美元的个人支票。
这笔钱由他的竞选团队、民主党全国委员会和各州政党平分。
这些钱也给了支持拜登竞选的外部团体额外的回旋余地，他们可以把这些钱用于其他努力，这些努力可能会让民主党在这场预计会很紧张的选举中占据优势，而不仅仅是给拜登做广告宣传。
两党及其盟友目前正就几十起与选举程序相关的法庭案件提起诉讼——通常是关于邮件投票的障碍是应该维持还是应该消除。
法庭审理此案之际，特朗普试图散布对邮件投票的怀疑，称这将导致广泛的选民欺诈。事实上，欺诈在之前转而使用邮件投票的五个州非常罕见。
Biden raises over $360 million in August, shattering record
WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden raised $364 million in August, a record sum that will give him ample resources to compete in the final two months of the campaign against President Donald Trump.
Biden struggled to raise money early in the primary. But since he became the presumptive nominee in the spring, money has poured into his campaign. In July, he all but closed the huge cash-on-hand advantage enjoyed by Trump, who held $300 million in reserve.
Biden's August total, which was announced on Wednesday, speaks to the enthusiasm among Democrats to oust Trump from office.
The flood of new contributions came from grassroots supporters, as well as deep-pocketed donors, and should alleviate any lingering concern over whether Democrats will be able to inundate the airwaves in key states.
“These numbers humble me,” Biden wrote in a message to supporters. “Even in a global recession, working families set aside some money to power this campaign, and a little bit added up in a big way.”
Already there are signs Biden is flush with cash.
On Monday, the campaign announced it would spend $45 million on a broadcast and digital campaign this week. The 60-second spot features an excerpt from Biden's Monday speech in Pittsburgh when he pushed back on Trump's efforts to portray him as a supporter of the violence and unrest that has erupted in cities such as Portland, Oregon, and Kenosha, Wisconsin.
“What I’m having to spend a lot of it on is to counter the lies,” Biden told reporters following a speech in in Wilmington, Delaware, referring to inaccurate statements from Trump and his allies, as well as recent ads by a political action committee called Preserve America.
Preserve America, which recently launched an over $20 million ad campaign attacking Biden, is overseen by a GOP strategist who led Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. That organization helped tank Democrat John Kerry’s 2004 presidential run with misleading ads that questioned his record in the Vietnam War.
The ads they've begun airing against in battleground states against Biden feature the widow of a slain police officer who questions whether Biden supports law enforcement and inaccurately suggest he condones “rioting and looting.” Biden has repeatedly spoken out against the unrest.
Trump has yet to release his fundraising figures for August. But his campaign recently acknowledged it was conserving money for after Labor Day. Though Trump plans to spend $200 million on advertising before the election, the campaign recently they went mostly dark on the airwaves.
Trump’s campaign placed an additional $6 million in advertising this week, though he was still getting outspent by Biden by nearly double, according to advertising data, and that was before Biden announced his new $45 million advertising plan.
Democratic officials attribute the amount raised in August to antipathy toward Trump, the selection of California Sen. Kamala Harris as Biden's vice presidential nominee and a convention that showcased Biden's empathy.
“Donald Trump is the greatest fundraising tool in the history of politics," said finance Chair Chris Korge of the Democratic National Committee.
The money was raised in conjunction with the DNC. Though candidates face a $2,800 limit per election, Biden can raise far more than that through a joint fundraising committee with the DNC that allows him to collect individual checks worth upward of $700,000.
The money is split between his campaign, the DNC and state parties.
The money also gives outside groups supporting Biden's campaign additional leeway to their use dollars for other efforts that could give Democrats an edge in what's expected to be a tight election, instead of just giving Biden advertising air cover.
Both parties and their allies are currently litigating dozens of court cases that pertain to election procedures — often over whether hurdles to mail voting should be upheld or eliminated.
The court cases come as Trump has tried to sow doubt about mail voting, arguing it will lead to widespread voter fraud. In fact, fraud has been exceedingly rare in the five states that previously switched to mail voting.
“Because Biden has been so successful raising money, it has allowed us to move resources into vote by mail and get out the vote programs,” said Guy Cecil, chairman of Priorities USA, the largest Democratic super political action committee.
