Obama rolls in the money
07/02/2008 19:32  - (SA)  

I'm your best hope, says Obama Clinton loans herself $5m Clinton, Obama knuckle down Democrat battle far from over Obama crusade 'gathering steam' Super Tuesday: No clear winner Hispanics help Clinton win

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New Orleans - Democratic Senator Barack Obama has raised $7.2m for his presidential campaign since the first polls closed on Super Tuesday night.

Obama, riding a wave of fundraising both from large donors and small internet contributors, also raised a stunning $32m in January.

Meanwhile, rival Hillary Rodham Clinton acknowledged on Wednesday that she loaned her campaign $5m late last month as Obama was outraising and outspending her heading into February 5 Super Tuesday contests. Some senior staffers on her campaign are also voluntarily forgoing paycheques as the campaign heads into the next round of contests.

Obama and Clinton outpaced all candidates in 2007, with each raising $100m.

The Obama campaign made the announcement in a fundraising e-mail seeking donations.

Buoyed by strong fundraising and a primary calendar in February that plays to his strengths, Obama plans a campaign blitz through a series of states holding contests this weekend and will compete to win primaries in the Mid-Atlantic next week and Hawaii and Wisconsin the following week.

He campaigned in Louisiana on Thursday. The state holds its contest on Saturday.

Clinton, with less money to spend and less confident of her prospects in the February contests, will instead concentrate on Ohio and Texas, large states with primaries on March 4 and where polling shows her with a significant lead. She is even looking ahead to Pennsylvania's primary April 22, believing a largely elderly population there will favour the former first lady.

Meanwhile in a sign of Clinton's concern about her rival's growing strength, her campaign on Thursday asked Obama to debate once a week, but he demurred.

"I'm sure we can find a suitable place to meet on the campaign trail," Clinton's campaign manager Patti Solis wrote.

"There's too much at stake and the issues facing the country are too grave to deny voters the opportunity to see the candidates up close."

Obama rejected a debate proposed as soon as this Sunday to be broadcast on ABC, but his campaign spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Thursday, "there will definitely be more debates, we just haven't set a schedule yet."

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