Future not looking so bright for ex-President's Wife, but Obama beats ALL Republican challengers

Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll. April 5-9, 2007. Registered voters nationwide.
						.
"Thinking ahead to the 2008 presidential election, if the November general election for president were being held today, which party would you like to see win: the Democratic Party or the Republican Party?" Options rotated. Results include leaners. N=1,246 registered voters (MoE ± 3, for all reg. voters).
						.
		Democratic Party	Republican Party	Other Party (vol.)	Neither (vol.)	Unsure
		%	%	%	%	%
	ALL reg. voters	49	39	1	2	9
	Democrats	95	2	-	-	3
	Independents	45	29	3	7	16
	Republicans	2	93	-	1	4
						.
"If the November 2008 general election for president were being held today and the choices were [see below], the Democrat, and [see below], the Republican, for whom would you vote: [see below] or [see below], or would you vote for a candidate from some other party?" Names rotated. Results include leaners. N=approx. 620 registered voters (MoE ± 4).
						.
		Rudy Giuliani (R)	Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)	Other (vol.)	Unsure
		%	%	%	%
	4/5-9/07	48	42	6	4
					.	.
		John McCain (R)	Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)	Other (vol.)	Unsure
		%	%	%	%
	4/5-9/07	42	45	10	3
					.	.
		Mitt Romney (R)	Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)	Other (vol.)	Unsure
		%	%	%	%
	4/5-9/07	37	44	11	8
					.	.
		Rudy Giuliani (R)	Barack Obama (D)	Other (vol.)	Unsure
		%	%	%	%
	4/5-9/07	42	46	6	6
					.	.
		John McCain (R)	Barack Obama (D)	Other (vol.)	Unsure
		%	%	%	%
	4/5-9/07	40	48	5	7
					.	.
		Mitt Romney (R)	Barack Obama (D)	Other (vol.)	Unsure
		%	%	%	%
	4/5-9/07	31	50	7	12
					.	.
		Rudy Giuliani (R)	John Edwards (D)	Other (vol.)	Unsure
		%	%	%	%
	4/5-9/07	45	43	6	6
					.	.
		John McCain (R)	John Edwards (D)	Other (vol.)	Unsure
		%	%	%	%
	4/5-9/07	40	44	9	7
					.	.
		Mitt Romney (R)	John Edwards (D)	Other (vol.)	Unsure
		%	%	%	%
	4/5-9/07	30	50	9	11

Obama leads field in fundraising

But leftover money puts Clinton's total higher, filings show

By Mike Dorning and John McCormick
Tribune staff reporters
Published April 16, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama raised more money from donors for his presidential primary campaign than any other candidate during the first three months of the year, but Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton maintained a financial advantage by transferring money left from her Senate re-election campaign last year.

Obama raised $24.8 million for the primary, compared with Clinton's $19.1 million.

Still, Clinton has the bigger war chest. The New York senator reported $24.1 million available for her primary campaign, bolstered by $10 million from her Senate re-election campaign. She also raised an additional $6.9 million that only can be used in a general election campaign.

Obama (D-Ill.) reported $18.2 million left after expenses to spend on the primary. He reported an additional $1 million available for the later campaign.

Though both Clinton and Obama have held a series of big-dollar fundraisers, Clinton has relied more on wealthy donors who contributed the maximum legal contribution of $2,300 each to both the primary and general election campaigns.

Funds for the general election provide no strategic advantage during the primary contest since they must be kept separate and cannot be spent until after a candidate receives their party's nomination.

Clinton and Obama spent their campaign funds at a similar rate, with both reporting a little under $7 million in combined expenses and accumulated debts. And they were considerably more frugal than the two leading Republican spenders: Mitt Romney, who spent $11.6 million and showed no unpaid bills other than a loan to the campaign from his personal funds, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who showed $10.2 million in expenses and accumulated debts.

Clinton and Obama each dominated fundraising on their home turf.

Clinton raised more than twice as much than Obama from New York City addresses, while Obama bested Clinton's Chicago fundraising, collecting nearly 15 times as much as she did in the Second City. Obama raised $2.1 million from people listing Chicago addresses, while Clinton pulled in $4.5 million from the Big Apple.

Although Obama has focused much of his efforts on building a network of small donors, he raised the legal limit from about 4,800 of his 104,000 contributors for the primary campaign, while Clinton hit that level with about 5,100 of her 60,000 donors. For each campaign, that relatively wealthy sliver of their donor base contributed a big share of their money—more than $11 million to each campaign for spending on the primary.

Democrat John Edwards reported raising $13 million for the primary, with $9.8 million in cash available to campaign for the party nomination and a little more than $900,000 for the general election.

Edwards saw a surge in donor support after the announcement that his wife's breast cancer had returned. He raised about $5.4 million following the late-March revelation, more than a third of his total for the quarter.

While the first votes will not be cast until the Iowa caucuses next January, the candidates already are engaged in a struggle to build financial resources for a primary season that most political professionals expect will be extraordinarily costly. Major candidates are expected to spend $100 million or more.

The money chase has accelerated this election because early primaries are bunched and a slew of large states have moved their primaries to early in the year, making costly television advertising especially important. The major candidates also have indicated they will not accept public funds, meaning they do not have to abide by spending limits that constrained candidates in past elections.

Overall, the early fundraising showed the Democratic donor base rallying to their candidates more than did Republican contributors. While Republican candidates historically have out-raised Democrats, the GOP candidates collectively raised about two-thirds as much as their Democratic counterparts.

Romney reported $11.9 million cash on hand and Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani showed $10.8 million available for the primaries, according to disclosures filed earlier.

Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who raised $6.2 million, finished the quarter with $5 million cash on hand, nearly as rich as the $5.2 million bank balance shown by McCain, who was considered the GOP front-runner at the start of the year.

And Richardson had fewer debts, with less than $20,000 in IOUs compared with McCain's $1.8 million in red ink.

The fundraising figures were contained in campaign finance disclosures for the first quarter that each candidate was required to file by Sunday.

Original article posted here.