Senior Democratic figures are defecting from Hillary Clinton’s camp to her main rival, Barack Obama, in the 2008 race for the White House, according to detailed financial disclosures released on Monday.
Among Obama’s contributors were a dozen former fundraisers for Bill Clinton and at least four members of his administration.
The boost to Obama’s campaign came on the eve of a foreign affairs speech in Chicago on Tuesday in which he will seek to blunt criticism that he is all sizzle and no beef, lacking detailed policies.
All the presidential candidates had to present a detailed breakdown of funds raised in the first three months of the year to a federal election body by midnight on Sunday. Although rough totals of money raised were released a fortnight ago, the details, including spending and individual donations, had not been available.
The defectors include Alan Solomont, who was in charge of party finances during the Clinton administration and was close enough to the Clintons to be an overnight guest at the White House. He told Newsweek: ”People are ready for a new generation, a new face and a new voice.”
Former members of the Clinton administration now supporting Obama include James Rubin, Reed Hundt, Michael Froman, Brian Mathis and Greg Craig. Obama raised almost twice as much as Clinton from one of the leading Democratic funders, Goldman Sachs: $94 450. Leonore Blitz, who raised about $250 000 for Clinton’s senate race, said she was supporting both Clinton and Obama.
Tuesday’s speech is crucial for Obama, who has only been a senator for two years and whose campaign speeches have tended to be dominated by lofty appeals to idealism and to be short on policy detail. By contrast, Clinton has spent much of her time as a senator focusing on the detail of foreign and defence policy.
Obama is committed to an early withdrawal of troops from Iraq. But he is vague about other areas of foreign policy, other than to hint at tough action against Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons programme and a more balanced US approach to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
He was prescient enough to oppose the Iraq war, predicting the problems the US is now facing, while Clinton voted in the senate in favour, which has left her facing hostility from some Democrats.
Although Clinton is still ahead in the polls to secure the Democratic nomination, the figures show Obama, in fact, raised more than she did in the first three months of the year. When the rough funding totals were released a fortnight ago it appeared Clinton had raised more. But Obama raised $24,8-million in donations for the Democratic primary contests, which begin in January, whereas Clinton reported $18,2-million.
The third-placed Democratic candidate, John Edwards, raised $13-million for the primaries. On the Republican side, Mitt Romney was confirmed as the most successful fundraiser and the position of John McCain, who had long been the frontrunner in the polls, turned out to be more parlous than suggested a fortnight ago, partly because of his spending. He has $5-million in the bank, half of that of rivals Romney and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Massie Ritsch, a spokesperson for the Washington-based think tank Centre for Responsive Politics, said on Monday: ”On the Democratic side Clinton and Obama are pretty well matched. On the Republican side Romney is a clear leader and McCain has a lot of reasons to be worried.”
The geographical breakdown of figures show that Obama’s biggest donor state was California, providing him with $4,1-million, followed by his home state, Illinois, with $3,8-million. He raised $2,7-million in New York, a surprisingly large total for the state that Clinton represents in the senate.
By contrast, Clinton only raised $378 000 in Illinois. She raised $5-million in California, and $3,5-million in Washington DC. Obama, who refuses money from lobbyists and has returned money received from them, raised only $876 000 in DC. – Guardian Unlimited Â