Obama outraises Clinton 2-to-1 in March

Obama outraises Clinton 2-to-1 in March

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama raked in $40 million in March, leaving Hillary Rodham Clinton and her $20 million in the fundraising dust and stuffing his campaign treasury so he can outspend her in the crucial Pennsylvania primary.

His haul in new donations also buttressed his argument to Democratic superdelegates that he has built a vast network of donors and volunteers that they wouldn’t want to lose by denying him the nomination.

Obama has attracted nearly 1.3 million donors, largely through the Internet.

He has raised $131 million in the first three months of the year to $70 million for Clinton. Republican John McCain’s campaign has not revealed his March fundraising, but he has been far behind the Democrats, raising less than $23 million in January and February combined.

Clinton hints at taking Obama delegates

BURBANK, Calif. — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is unlikely to catch rival Barack Obama in pledged delegates, hinted Thursday that she hoped to persuade a few to back her instead of him.

“There is no such thing as a pledged delegate,” Clinton said in California, where she has been fundraising.

Both Clinton and Obama planned to address the state convention of the North Dakota Democratic Party on Friday, where delegates to this summer’s national convention will be allocated. Obama crushed Clinton in the state’s Feb. 5 presidential caucuses, 61 percent to 36 percent.

The former first lady said she was traveling to North Dakota to thank her supporters and delegates — and wooing Obama supporters was fair game.

Carter gives some hints

WASHINGTON — Former President Carter wouldn’t quite say it, but he left little doubt this week about who he’d like to see in the White House next year.

Speaking to local reporters Wednesday on a trip to Nigeria, the former Democratic president noted that Barack Obama had won his home state of Georgia and his hometown of Plains.

“My children and their spouses are pro-Obama. My grandchildren are also pro-Obama,” he said at a news conference, according to the Nigerian newspaper This Day. “As a superdelegate, I would not disclose who I am rooting for, but I leave you to make that guess.”

McCain discusses Fla. ties during tour

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Sen. John McCain on Thursday recalled the Vietnam War and the five and a half years he spent as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese as he continued a tour designed to introduce himself to a general election audience.

“We had met a power that wanted to obliterate our identities, and the cause to which we rallied was our response: We are free men, bound inseparably together, and by the grace of God and not your sufferance we will have our freedom restored to us,” he said.

McCain’s family lived in Jacksonville for several years while he was a prisoner of war. Upon his release, the Republican nominee-in-waiting lived in the city, where he was a commanding officer of his squadron at Cecil Field.

Clinton: Papers show wife’s work as first lady

ALTOONA, Pa. — Former President Clinton said his wife’s White House schedules showed their opponents the range of issues she worked on as first lady.

“We just released Hillary’s schedules, and all our adversaries thought ’We’ll feast on this,”’ Clinton said while campaigning for Hillary Rodham Clinton at Penn State-Altoona. “But they said, ’That woman sure did work hard across a world of areas.”’

The National Archives released the papers in Washington and at the Clinton presidential library in Arkansas last month.

Obama to shoot hoops

INDIANAPOLIS — Barack Obama will play three-on-three with students — and possibly a former Indiana University basketball star — as he taps the state’s rich basketball tradition to help get out the vote for next month’s primary.

An 18-year-old high school student who registers 20 people to vote will choose two students to help challenge the Democratic presidential candidate on the court, said Kevin Griffis, a spokesman for Obama’s campaign in Indiana. If the winning student decides not to play, he or she can choose all three players.

Obama’s team could include Calbert Cheaney, a former NBA player and NCAA basketball player of the year, and a college student who registers 30 new voters.

Clinton, Obama even, but both edge McCain

Barack Obama is essentially even with Hillary Rodham Clinton in the CBS News-New York Times poll among registered Democrats, with their standing unchanged from two weeks ago but far closer than they were in February.

Matched against expected Republican nominee John McCain, both Democrats edge him by 5 percentage points.

Obama is viewed unfavorably by 24 percent of all voters, back to where it was before last month’s controversy over his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

More voters overall express confidence in the two Democrats’ abilities to handle the economy than McCain’s.

Church plans to start discussion on race

CHICAGO — The United Church of Christ, the parent denomination of Barack Obama’s church, announced Thursday that it will begin a conversation on racial issues beginning next month in response to sermons by Obama’s pastor that were critical of the U.S.

Leaders of Obama’s church, Trinity United Church of Christ, meanwhile, asked reporters for respect, saying threats and a media onslaught are disrupting worship at the South Side church. The church has increased security in response to threatening telephone calls, letters and e-mails, they said.

At a news conference, the United Church of Christ’s national leadership said the furor over comments by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright demonstrated the complexity of racial issues in the country and the need for churches nationwide to talk about them.

Taping show with Leno, Clinton pokes fun at self

BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton made fun of herself Thursday, telling “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno she almost didn’t make it to his studio.

“It is so great to be here, I was so worried I wasn’t going to make it. I was pinned down by sniper fire,” Clinton said after joining him onstage, referring to her claims — since disputed — that she dodged sniper bullets while arriving in Bosnia as first lady. Clinton later said she had “misspoke.”

As she entered, Leno’s band played the “Rocky” theme, jumping off her statement this week that she is the underdog in the Democratic nominating contest against Barack Obama, just like the fictitious boxer was against his opponent in the Oscar-winning movie.

Leno asked how much sleep Clinton was getting. “Answering the phone at 3:00, that’s gotta be tough,” he joked, referring to her campaign commercials that ask which candidate would be the best prepared as president for middle-of-the-night emergencies. “It happens every single night. Someone calls up and they have something to say. You’ve got to stop calling me,” Clinton told Leno.