US Presidential Race: Barack Obama’s Is Bigger Than Hillary Clinton’s

LOADSA money. Biggest wad wins:

July 1 (Bloomberg) — Illinois Senator Barack Obama raised at least $32.5 million in the last three months, outpacing New York Senator Hillary Clinton and breaking fund-raising records for a Democratic presidential candidate.

At least $31 million of Obama’s total is for his primary bid, with the rest available only if he wins the Democratic nomination and enters the general election campaign. Clinton campaign officials didn’t say how much of the estimated $27 million they raised in the second quarter is for the primary.

Obama, 45, is concentrating on building a large base of smaller donors who may keep giving rather than large contributors who give the maximum allowed in one check. So far, he has received money from more than 258,000 donors, his campaign said today. Clinton had about 60,000 donors in the first quarter; she hasn’t released her latest figure.

“Obama’s fundraising edge over Clinton helps compensate for her consistent 10-15 percent lead in the polls,” said Thomas Mann, a scholar at Washington’s Brookings Institution. “The two of them occupy the top tier.”

The money race:

The record-breaking sums raised by both Clinton and Obama suggest a growing Democratic financial advantage over Republicans, and also establish a growing gap between rich and poor candidates within the Democratic Primary, with Obama and Clinton threatening to drown their rivals — and, perhaps, the state of Iowa — in paid advertisements.

Anorak

Posted: 1st, July 2007 | In: Twitterings Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink