Following 11 straight losses after Super Tuesday to Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton showed surprising financial resilience by raising 35 million U.S. dollars in February as her rival was outspending her in key March 4 contests.
Obama's financial superiority has been evident in the primary states of Texas and Ohio, which vote Tuesday and where he has purchased 7.5 million dollars in advertising to Clinton's 4.6 million dollars.
"It was incredibly gratifying to see people come forth with this vote of confidence in me," Clinton told reporters in Hanging Rock, Ohio. "Obviously this is a tremendous benefit to my campaign."
But Obama has been raising money at an even greater rate and spending it, too. Some estimates place his February fundraising at more than 50 million dollars — which would be about half of what he raised in all of 2007. Obama spokesman Bill Burton would not divulge a total but said: "We've raised considerably more than" Clinton.
Obama's campaign had spent 2.4 million dollars on ads in Ohio as of Tuesday, to her 1.3 million dollars, according to TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political ads. Clinton spent 3.3 million dollars in Texas; Obama spent 5.1 million dollars, the firm's figures show.
Clinton began running a new ad in Ohio Thursday, with Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland promoting her as a "fighter." "I think she's a person who has devoted her life to caring about other people, making sure that America works for everyone, not just the privileged few," Strickland says in the ad.
Obama is targeting younger audiences in his ads, buying expensive prime time spots on programs such as "American Idol" and evening sitcoms. On Tuesday, for instance, Obama bought 38 spots on "American Idol" broadcasts in Ohio and Texas, and in the two other March 4 primary states — Rhode Island and Vermont. Clinton bought only six spots on the show in relatively small markets.
Source: Xinhua/Agencies
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