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Obama raises $55 million in February

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Garrell Hughes
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« on: March 07, 2008, 04:28:01 pm »

Mar 6, 5:39 PM EST


Obama raises $55 million in February

By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer
 

AP Photo/Alex Brandon
 
 
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic Sen. Barack Obama raised a record $55 million in February for his presidential campaign, eclipsing rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's own substantial fundraising for the month. All told, Obama has raised $193 million during his yearlong bid for the White House.

The campaign's announcement Thursday came two days after Obama lost three of four primaries to Clinton. Her victories stopped his winning streak and extended the race into an unpredictable future.

Obama's February total was his second fundraising record. He raised $36 million in January, more than any other presidential candidate who has ever been in a contested primary. His combined January and February totals nearly matched what he raised last year.

"That's a humbling achievement, and I am very grateful for your support," Obama said in another fundraising appeal. "No campaign has ever raised this much in a single month in the history of presidential primaries. But more important than the total is how we did it - more than 90 percent of donations were $100 or less ..."

Until now, the high water mark for overall primary fundraising through February of an election year was set by President Bush in 2004, when he was unopposed. Bush had raised $155 million for the comparable period. Subtracting the money Obama has raised for the general election, Obama has raised more than $186 million.

Clinton raised an impressive $35 million in February, a significant recovery from January when Obama raised more than twice her total. But Obama has outpaced her both in fundraising and spending during the nominating contests.

More than $54 million of Obama's February money was for the primary election. The campaign said it raised $45 million through the Internet during the month and had 385,000 new contributors for a total of more than 1 million donors.

Details of their fundraising and spending for February won't be available until March 20, when the campaigns are required to file financial reports with the Federal Election Commission.

Riding her victory wave, Clinton's camp announced Thursday that she raised $4 million online since Tuesday's presidential primary successes in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island.

The Clinton campaign said it had raised the money from the time polls closed Tuesday through noon Thursday. It reported 30,000 new donors. The influx of money made their online total raised for this month $6 million, the campaign announced.

With the outcome of their race uncertain, both campaigns are eagerly raising money for upcoming contests. The biggest one ahead is the April 22 primary in Pennsylvania, a state with two major media markets and a series of smaller ones that can consume advertising dollars. Obama has been airing television ads in Wyoming, which holds a caucus Saturday, and Mississippi, which holds a primary Tuesday. Both Obama and Clinton have radio ads in Wyoming and Obama has ads on radio in Mississippi as well.

Political advertising analyst Evan Tracey said a typical political ad buy in Pennsylvania would cost about half a million dollars a week. But with the high stakes in the state and the benefit of time, Tracey predicted both candidates would spend in excess of the more than $20 million the candidates spent advertising in Ohio and Texas combined.

Clinton advisers said they are optimistic about her chances in Pennsylvania and will move 200-300 staffers from Ohio and Texas to Pennsylvania, where they plan to open at least 23 offices across the state.

"We're going to have the funds we need to keep this campaign going, to keep Hillary Clinton's message out there," senior adviser Ann Lewis said in a teleconference with reporters.

Past victories have also caused upticks in giving. The Clinton campaign, for instance, raised more than $1 million in the 24 hours following her New Hampshire victory on Jan. 8. Obama raised $1.2 million the day after winning the Iowa caucuses and he raised even more in the 24 hours after losing in New Hampshire.

Clinton had to lend her campaign $5 million at the end of January, but has seen her finances improve since then. She reported raising $34 million for the primary in February.

Obama and his allies outspent her in Texas and Ohio in advertising.

Both campaigns have been the top fundraisers of the entire presidential field, raising $100 million each in 2007.

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Garrell Hughes
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« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2008, 04:28:50 pm »

Enthusiasm tilts toward Obama in Pa.

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Associated Press Writer
 

AP Photo/Alex Brandon
 
 
STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) -- For Edwin David, who served with the famed World War II unit of black fighters known as the Tuskegee Airmen, Sen. Barack Obama is an easy choice.

"Just let me live till voting time in November," said David, 83, living in retirement in the Pocono Mountains. "In my lifetime, we just might get to see the first African-American president of the United States!"

Fresh from victories in the big states of Ohio and Texas, and with polls having shown her holding the lead here, even if it has dwindled, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton starts her campaign in Pennsylvania as the favorite to win the April 22 primary.

But in random interviews last week with dozens of voters in swing districts across the state, much of the Democratic voter enthusiasm seemed to tilt toward Obama, not only because he is a fresh face, but because they believe he has the best shot at beating Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain, whom they call old and out-of-touch.

But unlike David, many said it wasn't an easy decision.

Kate Clark, 53, a cafe owner in Nazareth, a small town near Allentown, said she struggled with her choice. Tempted to vote for Clinton because of her gender, she said Obama's energy and vision ultimately won out.

"I think we need to see the United States and see the world through eyes that are younger, through eyes that have dreams, through eyes that see something new for the nation," Clark said.

Clark said she worries about the health of the environment - and the economy. Fewer people are walking through the doors of her quaint eatery now than at any time since it opened 11 years ago.

"People are afraid. The five dollars that they have is being spent on gas, on food," she said. "Everyone's tight with cash."

On the other hand, Clinton supporter Carol Velez, 52, of Norristown, in the Philadelphia suburbs, calls Obama "a glorified preacher."

"His words are not his actions," said Velez, who works in sales. "His plan is not a reality. It's just what people want to hear."

Clinton, she said, "is totally qualified and experienced."

Republicans still hold the edge in voter registration in the Philadelphia suburbs, but steady Democratic gains and voters' willingness to cross party lines in that largely white-collar region have made it crucial to Democrats. The city itself contains the state's largest concentration of Democratic voters, and its large black population is expected to give Obama an advantage there.

Clinton is expected to run stronger in northeastern Pennsylvania, with its mix of blue-collar, culturally conservative voters around Scranton and the growing number of New York commuters who are moving in the Pocono Mountains region; and the Pittsburgh region in southwestern Pennsylvania.

In Nazareth, about 60 miles north of Philadelphia, grocery-store manager Terry LaBar said he's undecided between Clinton and Obama. He wants to see them in the flesh before making up his mind.

"I think it's time that maybe a woman gets in there and expresses her views and has a chance," said Labar, who is married with two teenage children. On the other hand, he said, Obama represents a break with the past. "I'm always looking for new things to happen."

Another undecided Democrat is Tom Ciesielski, 43, who owns a pet food store in the Pittsburgh suburb of McCandless.

He might vote for Clinton because a win would put her husband, the former president, back in the White House too: "I like Bill Clinton. Life was good with Clinton."

But Obama, Ciesielski said, would be a uniter: "Obama seems like he would bring the world back together. We travel a lot and, man, everyone hates us because of the (Iraq) war."

Only Democrats can vote in the state's Democratic primary. The campaigns have until March 24 to sign up new party members from the 984,000 registered voters who are not members of either major party, or from potential defectors among the 3.2 million Republicans or Pennsylvanians who are not registered to vote.

Among black Democrats, there is an undeniable sense of pride that Obama could be the first black president.

Single mother Kenya Howard, 32, lists health care as her biggest day-to-day concern. Unemployed and uninsured, she avoids going to the doctor because it costs $50 for a visit. She likes Obama's health plan, but that is not the primary reason why she is supporting him.

"A good portion of it is because he's black," said Howard, of Allentown. "I think a lot of black people would say that."

---

Associated Press writers Ramesh Santanam in Pittsburgh and Patrick Walters in Norristown, Pa., contributed to this story.

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