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Opinion: Breaking News: Obama rakes in record money for Feb.

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Sen. Barack Obama raised $55 million during the 29 days of February. That’s fully $20 million more than his competitor for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and an apparent presidential fundraising record for a single month.

That works out to collecting about $79,000 every hour around the clock for February’s 29 days.

The Times’ Dan Morain reports that in a press release out just minutes ago, Obama’s campaign disclosed that of the $55 million, more than $54 million is earmarked for the primary season. That’s very significant because it means that if he were to win the Democratic nomination, donors who accounted for that $54 million could still give up to another $2,300 each specifically for the general election.

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Additionally, Obama received money from 727,972 donors in February, including 385,101 contributors who were first-time donors. To date, Obama has received donations from 1.07 million donors, far more than any other candidate in either party.

Clinton also had her biggest fundraising month in February--about $35 million. That would have been huge by any measure other than the still-spinning Obama money meter.

By comparison, Pres. George W. Bush’s biggest month for donations in 2004 was $26 million -- and that was for an incumbent. Sen. John Kerry’s most successful fund-raising month in 2004 was March, when he took in $43.38 million. No month in any presidential election before then comes even close to Obama’s new numbers.

--Andrew Malcolm

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