Clinton Brings What Obama Needs: Money

(CBS)  Two weeks after pledging her full-hearted support to democratic nominee Barack Obama in her concession speech, and following some time off, Sen. Hillary Clinton is ready to actively rally her troops to his side, CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras reports.

"Her involvement in the campaign is welcome news and we're very excited about it," said Tom Daschle, national co-chair of the Obama campaign.

On Thursday, she will introduce Obama to her key fundraisers. On Friday, they campaign side-by-side for the first time. Democrats are practically salivating over the potential positives Clinton brings with her.

"I think Sen. Clinton has a tremendous role if she wants to take it, in the campaign," Daschle said. "She has an extraordinary following all across the country -- among women, among minority groups, among working people."

Clinton's help in soothing the bad blood between the campaigns is critical -- history has shown how important that can be:

When Senator Ted Kennedy challenged Jimmy Carter for the nomination in 1980, the battle became bitter -- and the fallout was fatal.

"They never made up in a convincing way and it was one of the reasons why President Carter lost," said Mike Allen, Politico's chief political correspondent.

But the biggest plus Clinton offers is cash. Obama, who just a few days ago broke his pledge to rely on public financing, needs those checks.

"The campaign could not afford for all these supporters to take the summer off and lick their wounds," Allen said. "They want them to be in there raising money, giving money right away."

Obama's May fundraising report reveals a slowdown: $23 million in contributions, more than $7 million less than a month earlier. Rival Sen. John McCain was close behind. But analysts predict Clinton's supporters could produce a surge of up to $75 million.

"Money is important in a presidential campaign," said public opinion analyst Mark Mellman. "Most of Barack Obama's money is coming from small contributions. But every dollar matters and being able to get those Clinton fundraisers is very important for his campaign moving forward."

[sachaliv]

clinton wants the right things for the party!
i personaly think both reflect the party well, and
both together, could win the RED STATES WHICH IS SO NEEDED FOR CHANGE!!! !

[sachaliv]

clinton wants the right things for the party!
i personaly think both reflect the party well, and
both together, could win the RED STATES WHICH IS SO NEEDED FOR CHANGE!!! !

[sachaliv]

clinton wants the right things for the party!
i personaly think both reflect the party well, and
both together, could win the RED STATES WHICH IS SO NEEDED FOR CHANGE!!! !

[sachaliv]

clinton wants the right things for the party!
i personaly think both reflect the party well, and
both together, could win the RED STATES WHICH IS SO NEEDED FOR CHANGE!!! !

[fstop100]

there should be limits on spending, the amount these candidates have and will spend should be a criminal act.

[tiredofthebs]

Color me surprised! I expected to see the usual NOISE from Obama supporters all over this page. Guess all the stupid a** comments are reserved for those columns about Senator Clinton when she is NOT ASSISTING Obama.

[zerosum2009]

All Mr. "I bring people together" had to do to get a majority of the votes in the NATIONAL ELECTION--
have Clinton for VP.
Instead, he is busy spending millions of dollars to remedy a decision based totally upon his inflated ego, and Hillary Clinton is stuck trying to do the real bringing together, by being on his side, when she was screwed by the democratic party.

[usakousagi]

Wish I was ONLY getting 23 million dollars...

[denn034]

He''s raised more than twice what McCain''s raised and we''re to believe he needs money. Yeah, right!

[rad_outrage]

Ok, I don''t get it. Obama needs financial support from Clinton (or her supporters)? ABC news (Jake Tapper) has an article saying that they are close to an agreement where Obama will "help retire her more than 10 million in debt." A CNN "Commentary" by Leslie Sanchez says that he "threatens to outspend McCain by six -- perhaps eight -- to one." Oh, and by the way, Obama did never "broke his pledge." This has been covered ad naseum by the pundits (Olberman, for instance) that he signed a statement that he would try to secure an agreement with the Republican nominee. No pledge. And he would ask McCain to play fair -- something I have seen no evidence of in recent days. Moveon.org has now shut down its 527. We are finally getting somewhere and don''t need journalism that might sway some voters to impede the progress!