Sen. Barack Obama outraised Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton by $10 million in second-quarter contributions that can be spent on the Democratic presidential primary contest, aided by the contributions of 154,000 individual donors.
Obama's campaign on Sunday reported raising at least $31 million for the primary contest and an extra $1.5 million for the general election from April through June, a record for a Democratic candidate.
Clinton's campaign announced late Sunday that she had raised $21 million for the primary. With general election contributions added, aides said her total sum would be "in the range" of $27 million. Candidates can only use general election money if they win their party's nomination.
Obama's whopping amount ensures his place as a top contender for the Democratic nomination. It steals the spotlight from Clinton, his main rival. And it establishes the two of them as the fundraising juggernauts of the entire presidential field.
Last week, the masters of spin at the Clinton campaign put out the word they had raised $27 million for the second quarter. They did. But -- and this is a big but -- what they neglected to mention was that $6 million of that was for the general election, not the primary. With all the resources Clinton has at her disposal (including Bill Clinton as we're so often reminded), Obama seriously outraised her for the quarter -- by 50%.
Clinton still has the lead in the national polls. She still has more name recognition -- and after 16+ years in the spotlight, that's undeniable. Name recognition matters in these early national polls, but I still maintain early national polls don't matter nearly as much as the early state-by-state polls. "Electability" questions continue to dog Clinton, no matter what Mark Penn says:
Earlier today, Howard Wolfson, the communications director for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, said in a memo: "As [Clinton strategist] Mark Penn likes to say, people always ask 'can Hillary win?' but he has never had this asked of someone who is already winning. This week's national polls underscore that observation."
But those polls only tell part of the story. According to a new Mason-Dixon survey, given exclusively to NBC/MSNBC and McClatchy newspapers, Clinton is the only major presidential candidate -- either Democrat and Republican -- for whom a majority of likely general election voters say they would not consider voting. In addition, she's the only candidate who registers with a net-unfavorable rating.
In the poll, 48% say they would consider voting for Clinton versus 52% who say they wouldn't.
The Democratic front runners have plenty of money. There's a long way to go til real voters actually make decisions. This could get ugly. It shouldn't, but it could. And who knows what's out there to shake it up. Plenty, I suspect.
