According to the New York Times, Donald Trump has “all but erased his enormous fundraising disadvantage against Hillary Clinton.” Yesterday, the Trump campaign announced it and  Republican National Committee raised $82 million last month, only slightly behind Clinton’s $90 million, and ended the month with $74 million on hand.  NPR reports that a good chunk of Trumps haul, $35.8 million was from small donations which increased by 69 percent in July. The Times’ article states that Trump could be the first GOP nominee financed by small donations:

And they suggest that Mr. Trump has the potential to be the first Republican nominee whose campaign could be financed chiefly by grass-roots supporters pitching in $10 or $25 apiece, echoing the success of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont during the Democratic primary.

That’s the good news for Trump. The bad news is that Trump’s Fundraising surge comes late in the campaign. Trump apparently has no desire to spend $100’s of millions on advertising like the Hillary campaign. Clinton has aired $68 million in ads, compared to Trump’s $6 million, and Clinton has reserved $98 million more TV ad time, compared to Trump’s $817,000.

But the money is needed for a ground game, but maybe the Trump campaign doesn’t understand what is meant by a ground game. Trump’s national finance chairman, Steven Mnuchin talking about the fund raising numbers, said on Bloomberg TV, “The majority of this is ground support. This just goes to show you how much support there is for Donald Trump from the ground.”