WASHINGTON - Front-runner Hillary Clinton outraised her top rival Senator Barack Obama, piling up 27 million campaign dollars, in the latest three-month sprint of the 2008 Democratic fundraising race.
Of that figure, 22 million can be used in primary and caucus nominating contests expected to begin in the crucial midwestern state of Iowa in the first week of January.
Obama's campaign unveiled his take for the third quarter of 2007 on Monday, as aides touted his 19 million dollars in primary funding as proof that Senator Clinton was not running away with the Democratic White House nomination.
Clinton, who leads national and most state Democratic polls ahead of the 2008 contest, also said she had attracted more than 100,000 new donors in the period.
Obama laid claim to 93,000 more donors on Monday.
Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle said in a statement that the New York senator had raised 27 million dollars in total over the past three months, "substantially more than any other candidate in the race."
Seven million dollars can be used only in a general election, in the event that Clinton wins the Democratic nomination.
Obama is struggling to convert his own fundraising prowess into support in opinion polls, and is set from Tuesday to launch a week of high-profile addresses on foreign policy in Iowa.
In addition to the 19 million dollars in primary funding announced by Obama on Monday, he raised a further one million dollars for a possible general election race.
col/jit
10/02/2007 13:56 GMT