Bobby Jindal lags behind in fund raising figures

Washington, Jul 16 : Republican presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal has raised USD 579,000 in seven days of the second quarter of his presidential bid and has more than USD 9 million in his election war kitty, lagging far behind leading Democratic and Republican candidates, according to latest fund raising figures.

Jeb Bush, the former Florida Governor, who announced his decision to enter the Republican presidential fray mid-June raised a whooping USD 11.4 million in just 16 days of the second quarter ending June 30.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, has raised roughly USD 47.5 million during the second quarter of the year, putting her far ahead of others in this presidential race.

Her campaign has reportedly put a target of raising USD 100 million this year. The Jindal campaign yesterday reported to the Federal Election Commission that it had raised just under USD 579,000 during the second quarter of this year.

This is an average of USD 96,000 per day from 2,003 individual donors; 87 per cent of them contributed less than USD 100 each, The Washington Examiner said.

"Jindal is a full spectrum conservative — economically, culturally, and when it comes to foreign policy. He's shown he will not shy away from conservative beliefs.

Jindal will not hide, and he has more bandwidth to fight for our policies than any other candidate," said Gail Gitcho, senior advisor to Jindal.

"His campaign and message is clearly resonating with voters who care about this election," said Gail Gitcho, senior advisor to Jindal," Gitcho said.

Believe Again, the super PAC supporting Jindal's presidential bid, raised USD 3.7 million since launching in January. An additional almost USD 4 million was raised by America Next, another nonprofit backing Jindal. Another USD 1 million came from American Future Project, the Examiner said. Meanwhile, the Jindal campaign yesterday launched a new social media logo composed entirely from the faces of supporters who were there when this all began on June 24th.

"Throughout the campaign, we will rollout new special- edition logos that celebrate and recognise our earliest supporters who joined us along the way," it said. The Hillary Campaign yesterday said it raised more than USD 46 million in primary funds, thanks to donations from more than 250,000 contributors representing all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and the territories.

"The campaign is driven by a broad and diverse group of supporters, more than 60 per cent of whom are women and with 94 per cent of the donations coming in amounts of USD 250 or less," it said.

PTI