WASHINGTON - Riding a victory wave, Hillary Clinton has raised $4 million online since Tuesday's presidential primary successes in Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island, her campaign said yesterday.
But Barack Obama is still leading the fund-raising battle, and his campaign responded yesterday by saying it raised a record $55 million during February.
He broke his own fund-raising record from January, when he brought in $36 million, more than any other presidential candidate who has ever been in a contested primary. His campaign said it raised $45 million through the Internet in February and had 385,000 new contributors for a total of more than 1 million donors. All told, Obama has raised $193 million during his yearlong bid for the White House.
Clinton has reported raising $34 million for the primary in February. Her campaign said it had raised the $4 million online from the time polls closed Tuesday through noon Thursday. It reported 30,000 new donors. The influx of money made the online total raised for this month $6 million, the campaign said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Texas still untangling results of its caucuses
AUSTIN, Texas - Fewer than half of the voting sites had reported by yesterday the results of the Democratic caucuses Tuesday night, which were so chaotic because of the record turnout that police were called to some places.
So there's no winner yet for the caucuses, the second stage of the state's Democratic contest. As of yesterday afternoon, Barack Obama led Hillary Clinton 56 percent to 44 percent, based on reports from 41 percent of the precincts. The caucuses award 67 delegates.
Clinton beat Obama in the first step of Texas's contest, a standard state-run primary. Her 51 percent of the vote, compared with his 47 percent, earned her 65 delegates to his 61 delegates.
One reason for the slow caucus count is that phoning in the results to state party officials is voluntary. The 8,247 precinct officials are required only to mail the results of their caucuses to their county party chairmen 72 hours after the primary election day. County chairmen don't have to reveal those results until county or state Senate district conventions March 29.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wyoming's Democrats will have their say again
CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Not since 1960 have Wyoming Democrats felt so relevant.
That year, at the Democratic National Convention, the state's delegation cast 15 votes that pushed Senator John F. Kennedy over the top and made him the party's nominee for president.
With this year's race for the Democratic nomination still unsettled after primaries this week, Wyoming Democrats are feeling relevant again as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama focus on the 12 delegates at stake in tomorrow's caucus.
Only in the past few weeks have the campaigns stepped up their presence in the state, opening offices, calling voters, and sending mailers. Both candidates have radio ads on the air: Clinton's highlighting her healthcare plan, Obama's promising to change Washington.
Former president Bill Clinton appeared in the state yesterday, and Hillary Clinton and Obama both plan events today.
The number of registered Democrats has grown by more than 1,000 since the start of the year, the secretary of state's office says. Republicans have 136,000 registered voters, compared with 59,000 Democrats.
"It's amazing," said party spokesman Bill Luckett. "It's a once-in-a-generation type of opportunity for Wyoming to have a say in this presidential race."
It remains unclear which Democrat might have an edge; no public polling has been done in the state.
The state's top Democrat, Governor Dave Freudenthal, has said he doesn't like any of the candidates, Republican or Democratic, because they haven't spoken enough about Western issues.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Watchdog says few donors have been 'double givers'
For all the talk about voters crossing party lines this presidential campaign, not many donors are doing so.
Only 2.5 percent of the individuals who have contributed more than $200 toward the 2008 presidential race are "double givers," having given at least a third of their contributions to each major party, a campaign finance watchdog group reported yesterday.
And among supporters of the remaining major candidates, only a few thousand are giving to the other party as well, the Center for Responsive Politics said.
Republican John McCain has collected the most money from donors in the opposite party, $1.1 million from 1,200 Democrats, or about 3 percent of the money he has raised from people who are named in his campaign finance reports, according to the center's analysis.
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have each collected about 1 percent of their money from donors who otherwise favor Republicans - $986,000 for him and $875,300 for her.
Obama has about 1,800 Republicans on his donor list, while Clinton has 1,200.
FOON RHEE
