Bernie Sanders' fundraising is outpacing Obama's record-breaking haul in 2008

(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

published 1 October 2015

Bernie Sanders is giving Hillary Clinton a familiar run for her money. The socialist senator has already snagged "more than a million online contributions" in his presidential campaign, a benchmark which The New York Times reports President Obama "did not pass until the Democratic primaries were underway in the winter of 2008." So far, Sanders has gathered 650,000 contributors, far surpassing Obama's number at that point in the cycle.

Perhaps more impressively, Sanders raised $24 million in comparison to Clinton's $28 million in the third quarter, a gap that The New York Times reports is "comparable to Mrs. Clinton’s lead over Barack Obama" in the same phase of the 2008 Democratic primary. Of course, Clinton has raised $75 million total, compared to Sanders' $40 million — but the gap is narrowing.