Clinton Today
(CBS)
WASHINGTON -- As the Democratic nomination process continues on longer than many expected, the campaigns' efforts to raise money continues as well. But more time raising cash means less time connecting with voters.
“We’d rather be spending every minute with voters in battleground states, but by necessity we have to fit in time for fundraising," a Clinton campaign source tells CBS News.
Today, Clinton will travel to one of the less talked about March 4th states, Rhode Island. Despite its small size, Clinton has managed to cram in one rally, a roundtable with Hispanic voters on health care and one fund-raiser. But instead of heading to Ohio or Texas - the two must-win large March 4 prizes - to continue to campaign, the former First Lady is traveling to Massachusetts, a state she won by a double-digit margin on Super Tuesday, to raise money.
Clinton is attending a "low-dollar" event, where tickets prices can range from as low as $25 to upwards of $1,000. Later, she will visit a private home where a "high-dollar" fund-raiser is taking place. Although the campaign will allow one print reporter inside the fat cat fete, traditionally, fund-raisers have been closed to the press.
Clinton, who late last month loaned her campaign $5 million, has been doing well on the fund-raising front, despite being out raised more than 2 o 1 in January by Barack Obama.
“We’ve really been helped by the tremendous outpouring of support by help on the Internet. We’re averaging $1 million dollars a day. But the prolonged campaign has clearly caused both sides to continue fundraising at a brisk pace,” said Clinton campaign senior spokesman Doug Hattaway.
The problem for Clinton is that as she continues to raise money, Obama does too, and some suggest he is poised to set another record-breaking fund-raising tally this month, putting more pressure on Clinton to either spend time fund-raising instead of campaigning, or putting her in a position where she would have to lend her campaign more money to stay competitive.
