Kerry expects to hit $80 million mark tonight

This is big news. According to ABC News' Noted Now:

Kerry campaign now expects to raise more than $100 million this year (between 1/1 and 7/26, the start of the convention), according to a Kerry campaign source. The campaign expects to be near the previous goal of $80 million after tonight.

Kerry is expected to pull in nearly $6 million at the Sheraton in New York City tonight. By May 1, I suspect the Bush campaign will have spent at least $60 million on TV ads if not more. If you add that to additional campaign related spending and a slow down in major fundraising, it would seem reasonable to assume that the Bush campaign will be left with around $80 million cash on hand. If Kerry's fundraising is to be believed, I would suspect that by May 1 he would have something like $50 million cash on hand. This would put him tantalizingly close to Bush and would allow him to match Bush dollar for dollar up through the convention period.

This is something no Democrat expected, and as I wrote the other day, it in effect would diminish any adverse decision made by the FEC on left leaning 527's. It would also be a historic shift and would signal a new financial parity with the Republicans in national fundraising. This has the prospect to alter the political calculations and assumptions of the Senate and House races this year, and removes one of the important advantages the GOP has historically enjoyed.