Obama boasts wealth of ‘partners’

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Sen. Barack Obama raised more than $40 million last month, flexing his fundraising juggernaut that has left his Democratic presidential rival in the dust and dwarfs presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain’s efforts.

The Illinois senator’s campaign has raised $240 million since January 2007 and boasts a record number of donors — nearly 1.3 million, including more than 218,000 first-time contributors last month. The March total came from more than 442,000 donors who made an average contribution of $96.

Mr. Obama’s opponent, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, will report that she raised $20 million last month, campaign officials confirmed. Her total haul to date is about $173 million, but the New York Democrat is carrying campaign debt.

Mrs. Clinton, who held strong national leads until Mr. Obama won the opening contest in Iowa on Jan. 3, initially raised money for the general election as well as the primary. She has $22 million on hand that can’t be spent unless she is the party nominee.

Mr. McCain declined to release his March total, which must be filed by April 20. The Arizona senator had raised $59.6 million through February, Federal Election Commission filings show.

The fundraising prowess of each Democrat — it was Mrs. Clinton’s second-strongest month of the campaign — may be a sign of future trouble for the Republicans. Mr. Obama in particular has been able to utilize the Internet with dinner contests and other creative grass-roots efforts to attract more donors from more places.

“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.

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“Today we’re seeing the American people’s extraordinary desire to change Washington, as tens of thousands of new contributors joined the more than a million Americans who have already taken ownership of this campaign for change. Many of our contributors are volunteering for the campaign, making our campaign the largest grass-roots army in recent political history.”

Mr. Obama is on pace to easily surpass President Bush’s 2004 record-setting primary season run of $259 million, just $19 million more than Mr. Obama, who still has four months to go. Sen. John Kerry raised $215 million in his 2004 winning primary run. Primary-season fundraising ends when the parties choose a nominee at their summer conventions.

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson yesterday insisted the campaign is doing “very well,” especially with money raised over the Internet.

One way to put her $20 million figure in perspective: The campaign announced on March 6 it had raised $6 million online since the start of the month. Of that figure, $4 million was raised in the 48 hours after her wins in Texas and Ohio.

Mr. Wolfson said Mrs. Clinton will have the “resources to compete” against Mr. Obama, who currently is outspending her 4-to-1 in Pennsylvania and who has consistently outspent her even in states she won.

Mrs. Clinton has released two new ads in the past two days, and her campaign said its ad buys in Pennsylvania and North Carolina will be “significant.”

Over the past few weeks, the campaign has held several fundraisers and next week is doing a concert with Elton John to raise money for her bid. And both camps have California fundraisers this week.

“We knew that [Mr. Obama] was going to outraise us,” Mr. Wolfson said yesterday, adding that both campaigns are “outraising John McCain.”

Mr. McCain’s campaign wouldn’t speculate on the senator’s March figures. His earlier fundraising numbers had been dramatically lower than his Democratic opponents, never topping $13 million in a reporting period — a quarter in 2007; a month in 2008.

Mr. McCain had spent about $47.7 million through February. He also has held creative fundraising contests, offering donors a chance to ride on his “Straight Talk Express” bus and using his mother in a money pitch to give the senator “gifts” for his 71st birthday last summer.

The McCain campaign was declared all but dead last summer when the money dried up and his Republican rival Mitt Romney shattered fundraising records.

Mr. McCain is also in the middle of a disagreement with the Federal Election Commission, whose chairman says the senator is still bound to the limits of the public financing system for the primaries until the commission officially votes to free him. The commission itself is stalemated by a political dispute in the Senate, and Mr. McCain’s advisers say he’s free to withdraw on his own, as long as he hasn’t violated any rules.

In the general election, Mr. McCain has already committed to taking public funds. Mr. Obama last year said if nominated he would pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee on public financing, but he backed away from the commitment this winter after winning a string of contests and raising record sums. The campaign has said it will address the issue if he is nominated.

Clinton aides argued yesterday she is the more electable Democrat because of her victories in swing states and her strength with Hispanic voters and women. Mr. Obama’s once strong lead over Mr. McCain in hypothetical general election matchup polls “has completely evaporated,” Clinton strategist Mark Penn said.

But Mr. Obama may also have won over former President Jimmy Carter. The Georgia native, traveling in Africa, told a Nigerian newspaper his state and hometown chose Mr. Obama on Super Tuesday.

“My children and their spouses are pro-Obama. My grandchildren are also pro-Obama. As a superdelegate, I would not disclose who I am rooting for, but I leave you to make that guess,” he told the Nigerian paper.