Clinton Leads The Pack In Fundraising

Senator Reports Raising $27M In 3Q; Romney Tops Republicans So Far

(CBS/AP)  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign announced Tuesday that she raised $27 million from July through September, significantly outpacing chief rival Barack Obama.

The campaign boasted about the results in an e-mail to supporters that noted it was her best fundraising quarter yet. It's the first time she's dominated Obama, who raised $20 million in the same period and has given her an unexpectedly tight competition in the money race.

Clinton also raised $27 million in the second quarter. She's the only candidate who has released their figures thus far that has not experienced a dropoff in donations from the second to the third quarter, CBS News reports.

Clinton has raised a total of $90 million since the beginning of the year. Obama's total for the year was nearly $80 million, his campaign said Monday.

"Once you get into that 80 to 90 million dollar range, a few million here or there isn't going to mean the difference in the nomination," said CBSNews.com Senior Political Editor Vaughn Ververs. "But, in terms of perception, the fact that Clinton has been able to create some separation between herself and Obama is likely going to provide some extra momentum for her front-running campaign."

Clinton's total includes $22 million that she can spend on the primary race. She has to save the rest for the general election and will have to return it if she doesn't win the nomination.

She also supplemented her primary fundraising earlier this year with a $10 million transfer from her 2006 Senate campaign.

Obama's total included $19 million for the primary, meaning in total this year he's still outraised her in primary dollars - $74.9 million to $72.6 million.

Clinton leads other Democrats in national opinion polls, three months before the first primaries.

Among Republicans, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney pumped up his campaign bank account with money from donors and from his own personal wealth.

A top Romney adviser said he would report contributions of nearly $10 million for the quarter, as well as a personal loan to his campaign of more than $6 million. That would bring Romney's overall public contributions for the year to about $45 million, and his personal investment in his race to at least $16 million, for total receipts of more than $60 million.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has kept pace with Romney's fundraising in the past, has not disclosed his third-quarter totals. He has said his fundraising would be on a par with other Republicans.

Sen. John McCain, who appears to have stopped a political free-fall, will report raising more than $5 million during the quarter, according to Republicans familiar with his effort. McCain also reduced a debt he had at midyear but did not eliminate it, one Republican said.

One McCain adviser said the campaign had stabilized its finances, significantly reducing its spending, which had averaged $4.5 million a month, to $1.5 million a month.

Fred Thompson, the newcomer to the GOP field, raised more than $8 million during the quarter, supplementing the $3.5 million he raised in June, according to Republicans briefed on his fundraising totals.

Entering the fourth quarter, when spending will be heavy, the Romney campaign is eager to show a sizable amount of cash on hand to make clear it has the resources to compete in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.

With their third-quarter numbers, Obama and Clinton have helped push the Democratic field into record fundraising territory for a presidential campaign.

They sit comfortably atop the Democratic field, well ahead of the fundraising of their nearest rival, John Edwards, who raised $7 million in the past three months for a total of $30 million for the year.

The Obama and Clinton campaigns did not report how much money they have on hand, totals that would signal how well-positioned they are to compete in the months ahead. While Clinton leads in national polls, she, Obama and Edwards are clustered closely in polls of Iowa voters. Iowa is scheduled to hold the first contest of the 2008 presidential season with its caucuses in January.

This was the first quarter that Clinton has raised more primary money than Obama, who has given her an unexpectedly tight competition in the money race.

"This is the moment when you showed that America is ready for change and that you are ready to make history," campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle said on the campaign's Web site in a message to supporters. "This is the moment when your dedication defied the skeptics. The early primaries and caucuses are coming up fast. We're going to need your help a lot in the next few months."

The Clinton campaign said her third-quarter contributions included money from 100,000 new donors, surpassing the 93,000 the Obama campaign said it attracted during the summer. Overall, the Obama campaign has said it has attracted 350,000 donors.

"More than 350,000 Americans have already signaled the kind of change they want in Washington by contributing to the Obama campaign," spokesman Bill Burton said. "We have raised a historic $74.9 million in dollars available for primary spending, without transferring one cent from any other campaign fund and with no money from federal lobbyists or PACs."

Clinton, whose campaign had appeared focused on big-dollar donors in earlier quarters, expanded her reach to smaller contributors over the summer. Her campaign held 20 low-dollar fundraisers during the quarter, including one Sunday in Oakland, Calif., that the campaign said drew 14,000 people. Author John Grisham held a similar event in Virginia last week.

[pepperwood2]

President Clinton and The Politics of Humanitarianism

Why did the international community so quickly abandon Rwanda at a time when its presence might have stopped the genocide? Like Kofi Annan, many of the diplomats and government leaders in office at the time blame the failed Somalia mission, in which U.S. soldiers attempting to capture a Somali warlord were ambushed -- resulting in a fierce, 17-hour firefight that would leave 18 U.S. soldiers and more than 1,000 Somalis dead, 84 U.S. troops wounded, and images of dead American soldiers dragged through the streets of Mogadishu flashed around the world.

"The Clinton administration was brought to its knees by the problem in Somalia," says Michael Sheehan, former peacekeeping advisor to the U.S. Mission at the United Nations. "Our secretary of defense was fired, our presidency was dramatically weakened, they were enormously criticized for this adventure in Somalia and now you had another situation unfolding in Rwanda. There was no democratic political operative that could advise President Clinton to virtually turn around the ships steaming out of Somalia and send them back into a new African adventure of a raging civil war in the early parts of this genocide."

Annan is more succinct. "To some extent," he says, "Rwanda became a victim of the Somali experience."

President Clinton affirmed his doctrine: Civil War or Genocide?

[colonieny]

What about Sen Dodd ? Not a chance to win. But as head of Banking Committee he is getting millions to run, from guess who ? Banks. No connection ? What me worry ?
Check out opensecrets.org. hillary and the trial lawyers are big green bedfellow. How about legal reform ? So no family will ever go bankrupt because of a lawsuit ? No family will have to choose between food or family vacation and the inflated 350 dollars and hour ( or parts there of) that a lawyer charges just to get a divorce, or defend yourself in court from some trump up charges. If we have a legal system, we need a fair one, not one where only the rich win !!!!

[mcvett]

If the Democrats are stupid enough to nominate
Hillary for their party ticket,

I will vote Republican for the first time in my life.

As a gay man, this will be difficult for me.
xoxoxoxo

[mcvett]

If the Democrats are stupid enough to nominate
Hillary for their party ticket,

I will vote Republican for the first time in my life.

As a gay man, this will be difficult for me.
xoxoxoxo

[mcvett]

If the Democrats are stupid enough to nominate
Hillary for their party ticket,

I will vote Republican for the first time in my life.

As a gay man, this will be difficult for me.
xoxoxoxo

[bizzzz-2009]

The Democractic party has officially transformed into the American Communist party. Their leaders are Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid as well as people in the media like Alan Combs.
The hatchet job they did on Rush Limbaugh was a complete fabrication using two separate sentences fused together.Rush was commenting on phoney soldiers claiming they went to Iraq or Afganistan when they didn''t Harry Reid is a 100% pure communist and the American media have become a communist propaganda machine that prints so many lies so many times, it is assumed the truth. This is straight out of the Marxist textbook.

[tibu987]

Let me ask this question. Does Hillary have enough experience to be president?
Hillary keeps talking about how much experience she has.
I fail to see how her position as the First Lady during the Clinton years in the White House translates into the great amount of political experience she would like to have people believe.
I doubt that she sat in on Cabinet meetings, meetings with the military leaders, international leaders, debriefings by the FBI, the CIA, the SEC, NSA, and many other important meetings and issues.

Let''s not be swayed by what Hillary and her backers would have you believe about her experience.
What it amounted to was a social experience and a brief term as a New York Senator from a relatively unimportant area.
Being Bubba''s wife does not entitle Hillary to bash any of the other candidates for their lack of experience.

[tibu987]

As an independent voter, male, old timer, veteran, someone who follows all the candidates records as much as possible, I worry about how the 2008 election may turn out.
Many women will be voting for Hillary simply because she is a woman.
Liberal and Blacks will vote for Obama simply because he is black and eloquent.
Southerners and some women will vote for Edwards
simply because he is a good ''ol boy from the south and nice looking.
Celebrity mongers would vote for Thompson simply because they recognize him from the Law and Order TV show.
And so on.
The average American voter does not read much, is uninterested in following politics, watches too much TV and movies and/or, if they vote, may vote a straight ticket. This bodes ill for the literate, intelligent voters out there who are in the minority.
Cynic that I am, I do not look forward to what the 2008 election will get us.

[iceman_1960]

Perfect job for George W. Bush at Ringling Bros.

The guy in the clown suit on the dunking stool.

And with that, I too must make my departure. Adios.

[iceman_1960]

RE: Post by starleo146 at 10:38 AM : Oct 03, 2007

Take care.

Ciao.

[iceman_1960]

"Even that little tiny car cannot be filled up. When the door opens, an endless surge of clowns emerges."
- Posted by Iceman_1960 at 10:29 AM : Oct 03, 2007

You can tell I haven''t been to the circus in decades.

Those are midgets(*) in that tiny car in the circus, not clowns.



(*) The term is now regarded as disparaging and offensive by those so referred to, who prefer the term "little person".

[starleo146]

WE DID IT WE, GOT RID OF THE NEOCONS, THANKS RADIOB AND ICE MADE MY DAY. GOT TO GO TO CLASS

[iceman_1960]

pwrslm hasn''t responded at all to the cruel attacks on his character.

That''s what happend when you''re a Blackwater drill instructor. Your time is not your own.

[starleo146]

Even that little tiny car cannot be filled up. When the door opens, an endless surge of clowns emerges.

Posted by Iceman_1960 at 10:29 AM : Oct 03, 2007


Just like the oval office door, you know what I mean huh huh

[starleo146]

Dear Sir/Lady

The position of Clown has been filled, however Ringling Brother''''s has many openings for "trapeze" artist''''s. Please resubmit your resume for this position at http://www.ringling.com/

Posted by radiob at 10:26 AM : Oct 03, 2007

I''ll call Condi I know a lot would love to throw her in the air. Your catcher is learning right?

[iceman_1960]

The position of Clown has been filled, however Ringling Brother''''s has many openings for "trapeze" artist''''s. Please resubmit your resume for this position at http://www.ringling.com/
- Posted by radiob at 10:26 AM : Oct 03, 2007

They always need more clowns.

Even that little tiny car cannot be filled up. When the door opens, an endless surge of clowns emerges.

[omega39-2009]

Thirty-six percent (36%) of Americans approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Sixty-one percent (61%) disapprove. Those figures include 15% who Strongly Approve and 43% who Strongly Disapprove.
Posted by Iceman_1960

The pitfalls of being a "uniter", "decider", and "the type of guy you would like to have a beer with". Don''t worry though, Mud-lars are using Karl Roves "the math" and they foresee not only holding on to power in the WH, but recapturing congress with a filibuster proof majority in 08.

[iceman_1960]

"What gave him the boost the Betrayus add? Who are these people they ask to get this information for everyone and I mean everyone can''''t wait for him to leave."
- Posted by starleo146 at 10:18 AM : Oct 03, 2007

I''m not sure I''d call 38% a "boost."

40% of Americans want Bush IMPEACHED.

That''s one disapproval valley whose shadows Jimmy Carter never walked through.

[starleo146]

"The only thing good that comes to mind about Hillary is that she too shall die of old age.

The sooner the better, Eh?"
- Posted by pwrslm at 09:25 AM : Oct 03, 20

Wow!! what a terrible thing to say, do you know what goes around comes around, watch your step today

[radiob-2009]

Dear Sir/Lady

The position of Clown has been filled, however Ringling Brother''s has many openings for "trapeze" artist''s. Please resubmit your resume for this position at http://www.ringling.com/