Obama sets record with January campaign contributions
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Guardian Unlimited
Thursday January 31, 2008
guardian.co.uk
Barack Obama made US political history today by announcing he had raised a staggering $32 million (£16 million) in funding in January alone, the biggest-ever amount taken in such a short time.
The intake suggests that the final bill for the 2008 White House race will break the $1 billion mark.
The funds strengthen his position ahead of his battle with Hillary Clinton in next week's Super Tuesday contests, in which about half the country will be eligible to vote.
The millions will allow him to spend heavily on advertising in most of the 22 states, one of the few ways to get his message out to such a vast, geographically-spread electorate.
The Clinton team has not yet announced how much she raised in January.
Neither the Clinton or Obama teams expect the outcome to be decided on Tuesday. Obama's team said the money would allow them to mount significant campaigns in the months to come.
"We think that the strength of our financial position and the number of donors does speak to financial sustainability if it ends up going through March and April," David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, said.
"We think we will have the financial resources to conduct vigorous campaigns in the states to come."
Obama is using the funds to put out ads in 20 of the 22 states and will begin advertising in seven states that vote after Super Tuesday.
His team is also considering whether to buy advertising space for Sunday's Super Bowl, the culmination of the football season that attracts the biggest viewing figures in the country and where even a short slot will cost well over a million dollars.
Obama has an advantage over Clinton in that he has been raising funds from lots of small donors that allow him to go back to them time and time again, whereas Clinton is reliant on large contributors, many of whom have already reached the legal ceiling for donations.
Plouffe said the campaign attracted 170,000 new donors to give a new total of 650,000 donors overall.
Clinton spent an estimated $7.3 million on television ads in January.
Massie Ritsch, of the Centre for Responsive Politics, which tracks funding, said Obama had raised in single month almost as much as his best quarter last year, between April and June when he raised $33 million. All the camps are required by law to provide figures by midnight tonight on how much they raised in the last quarter of last year.
In the Republican race, John McCain's cash-strapped campaign has been receiving about $1 million a day since he won the New Hampshire primary on January 8.
His rival, Mitt Romney, has a personal fortune estimated at more than $200 million he can dip into. He has spent an estimated $54 million so far.
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