Hillary Clinton smashed fundraising records and stashed a staggering 36 million dollars into her 2008 campaign war chest Sunday, in a daunting challenge to her rivals for the White House.
WASHINGTON: Hillary Clinton smashed fundraising records and stashed a staggering 36 million dollars into her 2008 campaign war chest Sunday, in a daunting challenge to her rivals for the White House.
The Democratic front-runner raised 26 million dollars in campaign cash in the first three months of this year alone -- an all-time record -- and transferred 10 million dollars from her Senate fundraising account to her presidential bid, aides said.
Clinton was the first candidate to reveal results of a frenzied drive up to the first-quarter fundraising deadline on Saturday, which saw White House hopefuls criss-cross the United States in a desperate cash grab.
The deadline was a closely watched barometer of the nascent presidential race, and Clinton's totals will be measured against those of chief Democratic rivals including Senator Barack Obama and former senator John Edwards.
There was no immediate word Sunday from either rival camp after the first big test of what some experts predict will be America's first billion-dollar election.
Clinton's 26-million-dollar take so far this year dwarfed previous totals run up by presidential candidates in the first quarter of the year before a US presidential election.
It was also only just short of the figure of 30.9 million dollars racked up by all Democratic and Republican candidates in the corresponding period in 2003, before the 2004 election, according to figures from the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute.
"I am proud to say we have dramatically exceeded our goals and expectations ... we have raised 26 million dollars," Clinton's campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle told reporters in a conference call.
Campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe, a veteran Democratic fundraiser, added: "This is the most successful fundraising quarter that I have ever been part of."
Suggesting Clinton had broad appeal, the campaign said 80 percent of the donations were for 100 dollars or less, and 4.2 million dollars was raised on the Internet. A total of 50,000 donors was recorded in all 50 US states.
Donors are limited to two 2,300 dollar contributions, one for the party nominating process and the other for the general election campaign ahead of the November 2008 presidential poll.
The campaign said it was still working out how much of the money could be spent on Clinton's race for the Democratic nomination alone.
Prior to Clinton, the most money ever raised in the first quarter of a presidential race was 13.5 million dollars by former Republican senator Phil Gramm, in the first quarter in 1995, but he quickly faded from the 1996 race.
Gramm's total included 4.8 million dollars transferred from his Senate account.
In the corresponding period of the 2004 race, Edwards raised 7.4 million dollars, and ended up as the Democratic vice presidential nominee.
Obama's campaign said on Saturday that their candidate had taken 108,095 donations from more than 85,000 people, but did not give exact figures.
On the Republican side, the totals of front-runner former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani will be closely watched along with those of challengers Senator John McCain and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
McCain has already warned he may fall short of expectations, and told supporters in an email last week: "Unfortunately, we cannot change the fact that this is how the press, political pundits and others will look at the financial and political momentum behind our campaign."
Money is often dubbed the "mother's milk" of US politics but the 2008 election is putting a higher premium on the early cash grab, 10 months before any voters come into the equation.
Next year could effectively see two national elections -- a sprint towards primary and caucus nominating contests, many squeezed into January and February, then a long haul to the Republican-Democrat head-to-head in November.
Candidates need to bankroll multiple cross-country charter flights, armies of consultants and early nationwide television advertising blitzes.
A disappointing take in early fundraising could spell the end of White House dreams for some more minor candidates on each side.
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