Obama tops Clinton in record month for fundraising

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton both had a record-breaking month of fundraising in February, bringing in more than $80 million combined, but with Obama again raising significantly more than Clinton.

Obama's campaign did not release an official estimate of its February fundraising on Thursday. But several major donors estimated it to be about $50 million based on their calculations and knowledge of tallies during the month, when on many days the campaign took in as much as $2 million.

The unprecedented sum underscores the challenge facing Obama in his decision to accept public financing for the general election and abide by the spending limits that come with it, something he indicated last year he would do if the Republican nominee also signed up for the campaign finance program. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, has criticized Obama for wavering on the issue.

Obama campaign officials were still tabulating and said only that their total was "considerably more" than the $35 million that Clinton's campaign announced Thursday that it had raised in February.

"It's a leap year," said Bill Burton, a campaign spokesman. "There's one more day."

Obama's total is expected to exceed the $44 million that Sen. John Kerry raised in March 2004, a month that set a record in a presidential campaign. Kerry, however, was already clearly on track to being the Democratic Party's nominee when he raised the then-extraordinary sum.

Officials of the Clinton campaign, meanwhile, held a rousing conference call with donors on Thursday on the month's results.

"It's an extraordinary number for us, $35 million in February alone," said Terry McAuliffe, Clinton's campaign chairman.

Clinton campaign officials also sought to buck up donors dismayed about being on the losing end of 11 straight contests and emphasized they still believe they can win the nomination. Fired-up campaign officials emphasized their successful month meant they had more than enough resources to be competitive in the contests on Tuesday in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island, and beyond.

"Hillary Clinton's not going anywhere," McAuliffe said. "Hillary's going to one place. She's going to Denver as the Democratic Party nominee."