Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton lived hand to mouth during the rush of
presidential primaries while Democratic rival Sen. Barack
Obama outspent her and put money in the bank.
New Federal
Election Commission reports show Obama raised at a clip of
nearly $2 million a day in February, totaling about $55
million -- an open spigot of money that left him
with $30 million in the bank for March.
Clinton had her
best fund-raising month as well, at $34.5 million. But
counting her debts to vendors, she ended with a net $3
million. And that's not factoring the $5 million she
lent her campaign and has not paid back.
The current
respite between primaries -- the next one is April 22 in
Pennsylvania -- may cut back on some of the spending. It
also denies the two campaigns the head-to-head
contests that drive fund-raising.
''Fund-raising
has always been event-driven,'' said Donald Fowler, a
former Democratic National Committee chairman. ''The
American people just don't sit around trying to think
up ways of giving up money. Something has to draw
attention to the need.''
Fowler, a
superdelegate who has endorsed Clinton, conceded that Obama
has a network that is better able to raise money
quickly. But Obama himself played down his March
fund-raising on Friday.
''February was
pretty exceptional,'' Obama told reporters in Oregon,
adding that the campaign surprised even itself with the
level of Internet fund-raising. ''I don't think we
would expect to sustain that pace, because we don't
have a primary every week.''
But even though
he outspent Clinton 2 to 1 heading into the March 4
contests in Texas and Ohio, he lost both those primaries,
though he held the edge in a Texas caucus held the
same day. Clinton also won the Rhode Island primary
that day. Obama's only clear victory was in Vermont.
''The Obama
campaign spent gobs of money leading up to March 4, and we
were vastly outspent in every state, and the result was
three big wins out of four for Senator Clinton,'' said
Clinton spokesman Jay Carson.
Still, Obama's
fund-raising prowess has made states that initially seemed
to heavily favor Clinton, like Texas, more competitive.
On Friday, a
month before the primary in Pennsylvania, Obama launched
three ads in the state, two of them brand-new. One is a
60-second commercial that is mostly biographical; the
other two are 30-second spots that portray Obama as a
politician who fights special interests and who works
in a bipartisan way. He trails Clinton in polls conducted in
Pennsylvania.
In a bit of good
financial news for Clinton, she made inroads in February
with small donors, a group that has mostly flocked to Obama.
Clinton raised half of her money -- $17 million -- in
contributions of $200 or less, according to an
analysis by the nonpartisan Campaign Finance
Institute. Obama tapped those donors, many of whom give
through the Internet, for $30.5 million.
The protracted
Democratic contest has been good for Sen. John McCain, who
has locked up the Republican nomination. McCain raised only
$11 million in February, a fifth of Obama's total and
a third of Clinton's.
McCain has picked
up his fund-raising pace for March, and his advisers
say that as long as Obama and Clinton are criticizing each
other McCain has a relatively open path to introduce
himself to a broader national electorate.
''Right now the
two of them are running in individual states against each
other, not against John McCain,'' said McCain senior adviser
Charlie Black.
The disparity in
fund-raising between the Democratic candidates and
McCain is also drawing attention to the roles that the
national political parties could play in the contest.
On that front, the Republicans hold a clear advantage
now.
The Republican
National Committee reported $25 million cash on hand at
the end of February compared to about $4.5 million, after
debts, for the Democratic National Committee.
''The imbalance
between the DNC and the RNC is a little more lopsided
that it should be, than you would like it to be,'' Fowler
said. ''But when the crunch comes they'll have plenty
of money.''
McCain reported
$8 million cash on hand -- $3 million of which is for the
general election. At month's end McCain still owed $3
million on a loan, but he paid that off this week,
aides said.
Wealthier
contributors to all three presidential candidates have
donated for both the primary and general elections,
doubling their allowable giving from $2,300 to $4,600.
But the general-election money can only be used in the
fall. Whoever loses the nomination would have to return that
money to the donors. Clinton has been the most aggressive at
raising general-election money, with nearly $22
million in the bank. Obama has $8 million set aside
for the fall.
Obama, as the
delegate and money leader in the race, has found himself
staving off both Clinton and McCain in recent weeks. His
campaign underscored the challenge in a fund-raising
appeal Thursday.
''No one could
have imagined it would go on this long, or that we'd have
to fight this battle on two fronts at the same time,'' Obama
campaign manager David Plouffe wrote in an e-mail to
potential donors. ''We've got to take on both Senator
Clinton and Senator McCain at the same time.''
In a testament to
the financial heft behind the Democrats, Obama and
Clinton together spent more in a month than McCain has for
the entire yearlong campaign.
McCain has now
spent $58.4 million in his primary bid, surpassing the $50
million limit he would have faced if he participated in the
public financing system he had been certified to join.
McCain has decided not to accept the public matching
funds, but the FEC wants him to assure regulators that
he did not use the promise of public money as collateral
for the loan he obtained late last year. Bank and campaign
lawyers have said McCain did not.
While eschewing
public funds for the primary, McCain has called on Obama
to accept public financing with him for the fall campaign.
Such a step would limit both candidates to about $85
million to be spent from September to Election Day in
November. Obama has hedged, setting several conditions
before he would consider taking public money. Few Democrats
believe Obama should abandon his prodigious fund-raising,
which could generate far more than the public funding
would permit.
McCain is keeping
his options open. Last month he filed documents to
create a ''compliance fund'' -- an account used by publicly
financed candidates so they can accept private
donations to cover legal expenses and other exempted
costs. (Jim Kuhnhenn, AP)
