Opinion: Finally, some good new$ for the Clinton campaign, but then...
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Some good news for and from the embattled Clinton campaign. At least for a little while.
Sen. Hillary Clinton raised more than $35 million so far in February, including $34.5 million specifically earmarked for the primary, her campaign aides announced today.
Speaking to donors in a conference call a short time ago with The Times’ Dan Morain listening in, Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said Clinton had by far the best fund-raising month of her 13-month campaign.
An aide to Sen. Barack Obama, who’s been a money-raising machine this year, did not specify at first exactly how much Obama raised in February, but claimed the Illinois senator out-raised Clinton anyway. Obama raised $36.7 million in January.
McAuliffe said Clinton has amassed a total of $167 million since the campaign began, including $145 million specifically for the primary, plus another $5 million she loaned herself.
McAuliffe said Clinton would have enough to compete in the Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont next week and in primaries to follow. McAuliffe added that....
the campaign’s internet fund-raising has exploded since the New York senator announced last month that she’d loaned herself $5 million.
“Nothing short of astounding,” said Peter Daou, who oversees Clinton’s Internet fund-raising. Daou said Clinton received donations from 300,000 people just in February alone, and that $30 million come in over the Internet.
With that lesson in mind, The Ticket is delighted to announce that we too have loaned ourselves several million dollars.
(UPDATE: But wait! There’s more. In order to rain on the Clinton parade, Obama officials quickly had this to tell Morain: Clinton’s fund-raising success is relative. Obama raised ‘considerably more’ than she has in February, according to Bill Burton, a spokesman.
The freshman Illinois senator is also heavily outspending her on television in the key states of Ohio and Texas, said Evan Tracey of TNS/Media Intelligence, which tracks political advertising.
On Monday, Obama aired 1,300 advertising spots in Texas to Clinton’s 800. Making matters worse, major unions backing Obama are spending heavily in independent expenditures on Obama’s behalf. Other similar independent groups have failed to come to Clinton’s aid in recent days.
‘It’s like giving golf balls to Tiger Woods,’ Tracey added in an interview. ‘The rich get richer.”
In Ohio, Obama had spent $2.4 million on television to Clinton’s $1.3 million through Feb. 26. In Texas, Obama had spent $5 million to Clinton’s $3.2 million. Both candidates are airing spots during newscasts and morning shows.
But with his fund-raising edge, Obama is able to buy higher-priced commercial time on more heavily-viewed shows like ‘American Idol’ and others, Tracey noted.)
Boy, don’t you wish you were in Texas so you could watch Obama’s 1,300 ads each day and wash them down with 800 exposures to Clinton? And don’t forget, we’ve loaned ourselves countless millions.
-- Andrew Malcolm