Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Clinton, Obama claim $100 million raised

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton will have raised more than $100 million this year for her presidential campaign, aides confirmed Monday evening, setting a historic new threshold in fundraising.

Rival Barack Obama's campaign indicated it had reached that record-setting mark as well. In a Power Point presentation to supporters, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, said the campaign would need "at least $100 million" to compete in the first 26 primary and caucus states. "Obama will have the financial resources," Plouffe said.

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Clinton and Obama have been locked in a fundraising race, with both already breaking fundraising records. Obama, of Illinois, had total receipts of more than $80 million at the end of September, and had raised more money for the primary contests than Clinton had.

In his presentation to supporters, Plouffe said Obama had 472,630 unique donors as of Sunday evening.

At the end of September, Clinton and Obama each reported more than $30 million in cash available for the primaries.

John Edwards, who has trailed Obama and Clinton fundraising but is in a three-way competition for the Iowa caucuses, was expected to report between $4 million and $5 million raised in the quarter. Edwards has qualified for $8.8 million in public matching funds, bringing his total for the year to about $44 million.

On the Republican side, dark horse Ron Paul was reporting having raised $19.5 million during the final three months of the year, a sharp increase from the $5.2 million he raised during the previous.

That would bring Paul's total raised this year to more than $27 million. Paul's fourth-quarter haul would surpass the third quarter fundraising by each of his Republican rivals.

Paul has caught fire on the Internet, attracting a national following among donors drawn to his opposition to U.S. troops in Iraq and his libertarian views

Source

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Damn our political system is broken, candidates are bought off before they're even sworn in to office. Doners that are writing those huge checks are not doing it for nothing, they have special interest that these candidates will be obligated to take care of first. That means you and me, the voters, come second. Our interest and needs will be pushed to the backburner.

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