http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/04/03/obama-continues-to-expand-fundraising-gap-over-clinton/
Barack Obama is taking a day off from the campaign trail on Thursday, a
decision he can apparently afford.
Campaign financing numbers out of the Democratic presidential race are
expected to show a widening dollar lead for Obama over Hillary Clinton,
and
possibly another obstacle to Clinton’s effort to stay competitive in the
last 10 nominating contests yet to be held.
The Obama campaign announced early Thursday that it had earned $40 million
in March. The number doesn’t match the record performance of $55 million
in
February, but is still stellar, with the campaign re****ting 218,000 new
donors and more than 442,000 total donors in March. To date, Obama has
raised money from more than 1.2 million donors.
“Senator Obama has always said that this campaign would rise or fall on
the
willingness of the American people to become partners in an effort to
change
our politics and start a new chapter in our history,” campaign manager
David
Plouffe said in a statement.
“Today we’re seeing the American people’s extraordinary desire to change
Wa****ngton, as tens of thousands of new contributors joined the more than
a
million Americans who have already taken owner****p of this campaign for
change. Many of our contributors are volunteering for the campaign, making
our campaign the largest grassroots army in recent political history,”
Plouffe said.
Clinton campaign estimates are for about $20 million in March, compared to
$34.5 million in February. According to campaign financing re****ts, Obama
has earned $195 million from the start of his campaign until February
2008.
Clinton has made about $167 million.
Tapping donors continues to be a priority for the candidates ahead of the
April 22 Pennsylvania primary. Obama has scheduled fundraisers at the
homes
of four different financial backers Sunday afternoon and evening in
northern
California.
Clinton too is in California, doing a foursome of fundraisers that started
Wednesday night in Silicon Valley. She also was attending events with
donors
in San Francisco, Pasadena and Los Angeles. They are expected to earn
$2,300
per person, the maximum allowed by law.
The fundraising blitz is critical as the candidates head into the final
stretch of contests. The outcome in Pennsylvania will be closely
scrutinized
for signs of strength and weakness for each candidate. Clinton had been
running a wide lead in the Keystone State, but Obama has narrowed it to
single digits, in part from an expensive and wide ad campaign.
Scott Rasmussen, head of Rasmussen Re****ts, which runs daily tracking
polls
of the race, said Obama’s “blue-collar charm offensive,” which includes
visits to factories, bowling alleys and bars, has been aided by his TV
buys.
Obama has “spent an awful lot of money on television advertising and
absolutely it’s working to some degree,” Rasmussen said. “He is making
progress, he has tightened the race from 15 points a month ago to five
points today.”
Rasmussen told FOX News that Obama’s target audience in the state has long
been one of Clinton’s strongest demographic groups.
“When you talk about his blue-collar charm offensive, he is trying to tap
into this constituency that has long sup****ted Hillary Clinton. The only
primary where he has attracted those blue-collar workers so far was in
Wisconsin. If he could do that in Pennsylvania, it could lead to a
stunning
upset, but right now, Hillary Clinton is still ahead,” he said..
Clinton aides said Wednesday that they anticipate Obama will outspend her
by
2-to-1 in Pennsylvania. In the first round of campaign ads, Obama spent
about $2 million to Clinton’s $450,000, according to data compiled by TNS
Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political
ads. Obama is also already airing ads in Indiana and North Carolina, which
won’t hold primaries until next month.”We don’t expect to match Senator
Obama ad for ad,” Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson told
re****ters during a conference call Wednesday. “We will have significant
resources to compete and be resourceful, but we know that Senator Obama
will
outspend us significantly.”
Clinton entered March with $11.5 million to spend in the primary compared
to
$30.5 million for Obama. Moreover, Clinton owed $8.7 million to several
campaign vendors at the end of February. A spot check by The Associated
Press of several vendors found many were paid last month, after the March
4
primaries in Ohio and Texas. The cost of those two contests, together with
efforts to reduce campaign debt, have kept fundraising a priority for her
campaign.
Though the New York senator trails Obama in delegates needed for the
nomination, Clinton advisers and fundraisers said her donors remain
enthusiastic.
“A big boon to the fundraising has been these appeals for her to
withdraw,”
said Larry Stone, a Clinton fundraiser in Silicon Valley who also is the
Santa Clara County *****sor. “It makes sup****ters angry, especially
women.”
While the money is financing their own intramural Democratic contest, both
Obama and Clinton have begun to target McCain. Democratic party leaders
have
voiced concern lately that the ongoing Democratic race was leaving McCain
unscathed.
Obama and Clinton also want to draw sharp contrasts with McCain to
influence
polling that weighs the two Democrats’ relative strengths against McCain.
That is especially im****tant to Clinton, who is trying to sell herself as
the most electable candidate to the Democratic superdelegates, the party
and
elected officials who can sup****t whomever they choose, regardless of the
election outcomes in the states.
|
