OBAMA iniciou o mes de Fevereiro com uma vantagem de 10 milhoes de dolares em relacao a Hilary Clinton

Obama Began February With $10 Million Cash Advantage Kristin Jensen and Jonathan D. Salant

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama began February with about $10 million more to spend than rival Hillary Clinton.

Obama, an Illinois senator, yesterday reported that he had $19 million in cash that could be used for the fight for the nomination. Clinton, a New York senator, had about $9 million and would have had even less if she hadn't loaned her campaign $5 million from her personal funds.

Obama used the extra funds to buy advertising and build a network of campaign workers throughout the U.S. that helped him chalk up a string of recent wins over Clinton, the one-time front-runner. The two contenders split victories on Feb. 5, when 22 states held Democratic caucuses or primaries.

``Hillary Clinton's `inevitable' march to the nomination has shrunk to a last-stand effort,'' said Rogan Kersh, associate dean of New York University's Wagner School of Public Service. Clinton now has to focus her efforts on the March 4 contests in Texas and Ohio and an April 22 primary in Pennsylvania, he said.

Obama, 46, yesterday filed a report with the Federal Election Commission showing he had $24.9 million in cash at the end of January. Included in that sum was about $5.9 million in donations for the general election that can only be used if Obama becomes the Democratic nominee and decides to opt out of the public financing system.

Clinton's Cash

Clinton, 60, had $29.2 million in cash, according to her report. Her campaign said she was holding about $20 million in general-election contributions. In addition, Clinton had $7.6 million in debt, including the $5 million loan. Obama's campaign had $1.1 million in debt at the end of last month.

Clinton told reporters on Feb. 6, the day after the Super Tuesday contests, that she decided to loan her campaign money because Obama had out-raised her by so much in January.

``I believe very strongly in this campaign,'' Clinton said at a press conference at her national headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. ``We had a great month fundraising in January, but my opponent was able to raise more money. We intended to be competitive and we were. I think the results last night proved the wisdom of my investment.''

Total Fundraising

Obama raised $36.1 million last month, while Clinton brought in $13.9 million. For the entire campaign, Obama has raised $138.2 million, compared with $121 million for Clinton.

While much of Obama's money came in small donations over the Internet, he also once again benefited from the support of Wall Street. Employees of New York's Goldman Sachs Group Inc. contributed $52,923 to Obama, compared with $14,350 for Clinton.

Both Democrats spent heavily in January. Obama, 46, doled out $30.5 million during the month -- almost $1 million a day -- bringing his total spending for the campaign to $115.6 million. Clinton spent $28.5 million in January and a total of $108.9 million so far on her White House bid.

Obama's campaign said it raised $7.6 million in the 48 hours after the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses on Feb. 5. While his campaign has refused to disclose total February fundraising figures, it reported that more than 900,000 people have contributed, including 500,000 since Jan. 1.

Clinton campaign aides said she has raised more than $15 million so far in February.

Republicans

On the Republican side, Senator John McCain of Arizona raised $11.7 million and borrowed almost $1 million more last month. He has now brought in $49.2 million for the campaign.

At the end of January, McCain had $5.2 million in the bank and $5.5 million in debts. He spent almost as much last month as he took in -- $10.5 million -- bringing his total campaign spending to $49.7 million.

Republican rival Mike Huckabee had $929,401 in the bank at the beginning of February and $54,209 in debts. He raised $4 million in January as he began the month by winning the Iowa caucuses. Since beginning his campaign, Huckabee, the 52-year-old former governor of Arkansas, has raised $13 million and spent $12.1 million, including $5 million last month.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who withdrew from the race Feb. 7, loaned his campaign another $7 million last month, bringing his personal investment to $42.3 million.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net ; Kristin Jensen in Washington at kjensen@bloomberg.net