PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL SENATOR OBAMA OUTRAISES DEMOCRATIC PARTY FAVORITE AND POLL FRONTRUNNER HILIARY CLINTON BY $10 MILLION WASHINGTON - Barack Obama waded deep into the Democratic base to raise a record-breaking $32.5 million in the second quarter, his campaign said yesterday - besting Hillary Clinton by $10 million in crucial cash earmarked for the primaries.
"We have built the largest grass-roots campaign in history for this stage of a presidential race," said Obama, who topped Clinton overall by $5 million.
Team Clinton, which tried to cushion the expected blow from Obama by letting it be known days ago that the New York senator would fall short, said it expected to raise $27 million to $28 million.
Clinton raised only $21 million in money designated for the primaries, compared with a $31 million windfall for Obama.
In the first quarter, Clinton raised $26 million, edging out Obama's $25.7 million.
More than 154,000 contributors kicked in to the Illinois senator's coffers from April to June. More than $31 million will be used for the primaries alone, the Obama camp said.
His huge haul shows that while Clinton holds a double-digit lead in the polls, Obama touches a chord with the party's base, said Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia.
"Obama stirs greater enthusiasm with the base, especially with small donors," said Sabato, who attributes Clinton's poll lead to her greater name recognition. "She's got higher poll numbers, and he's got better fund-raising numbers."
Obama broke the Democrats' $9.6 million second-quarter record for a nonelection year, set in 1995 by President Bill Clinton. President Bush holds the overall mark - $35.1 million in the second quarter of 2003.
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