Jul 2, 2007 2:00 am US/Pacific
Obama Campaign Pulls In Big Money
Barack May Have Beaten Hillary In The Money Race's Second Quarter
WASHINGTON (CBS News) ―
Sen. Barack Obama has outdone fellow Democrat and chief rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in quarterly campaign fundraising for the 2008 presidential election.
The first-term senator surpassed the former first lady by $10 million in second-quarter contributions that can be spent on the Democratic presidential primary contest.
Obama's campaign on Sunday reported raising at least $31 million for the primary contest and an extra $1.5 million for the general election from April through June, a record for a Democratic candidate.
Clinton's campaign announced late Sunday that she had raised $21 million for the primary. With general election contributions added, aides said her total sum would be "in the range" of $27 million. Candidates can only use general election money if they win their party's nomination.
Asked if Obama's fundraising made him uneasy, Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe told CBS's The Early Show Monday, "You're always nervous in these campaigns.
"What's clear is both candidates will have all the money they need in order to run an effective race," he said.
The whopping amount for Obama, who hopes to become America's first black president, ensures his place as a top contender for the Democratic nomination. It steals the spotlight from Clinton, who hopes to be the first woman president. And it establishes the two of them as the fundraising juggernauts of the entire presidential field.
For Obama, vaulting ahead of Clinton in the money race is an important achievement. Despite broad public interest in Obama's candidacy, he trails Clinton in national polls.
Counting this quarter's surge of donors, Obama has received donations from more than 258,000 donors through the first half of the year, an extraordinary figure at this stage of the campaign. He raised $25.7 million in the first three months of the year.
Meanwhile, Democrat John Edwards raised more than $9 million from April through June and relied on nearly 100,000 donors during the first half of the year.
The campaign has said it is on track to raise $40 million by the Iowa caucuses in January.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was at Edward's heels, with his campaign reporting more than $7 million raised. But Edwards' six-month total was $23 million, compared with more than $13 million for Richardson.
The figures that some campaigns released Sunday are estimates. Details of how much the campaigns raised and spent in the latest period will not be available until the candidates file financial reports with the Federal Election Commission by July 15.
While several Democrats revealed their total sums, Republicans were not expected to announce their figures until Monday or later in the week.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
