Clinton, Obama spend big

Clinton, Obama spend big

WASHINGTON — One million dollars a day.

As Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton rushed from presidential contest to contest in January, that was how quickly they burned through their money.

On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney were spending a third as much. To see the difference, all a voter in Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina had to do was turn on the television.

Of the $30.5 million Obama spent in January, more than $18 million was to place and produce television and radio ads, according to his January report to the Federal Election Commission. For Clinton, who spent a total of $28.5 million in January, $11 million was for ads.

McCain-Sanford ticket?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — South Carolina’s maverick Gov. Mark Sanford is getting the buzz, if not necessarily the love, over the possibility he could become John McCain’s running mate.

Some national pundits put him on the short list.

On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” several guests called the Republican governor a smart choice for the Arizona senator and presumptive GOP nominee. Political reporters are speculating about his chances. And the president of the anti-tax Club for Growth praised him in an opinion piece on McCain’s possible choices.

“If there is a governor anywhere in America who has demonstrated a commitment to economic conservatism, it is Mr. Sanford,” Pat Toomey wrote in The Wall Street Journal.

Obama wins Dems Abroad

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama won the Democrats Abroad global primary in results announced Thursday, giving him 11 straight victories in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Illinois senator won the primary in which Democrats living in other countries voted by Internet, mail and in person, according to results released by the Democrats Abroad, an organization sanctioned by the national party.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has not won a nominating contest since Super Tuesday, more than two weeks ago.

More than 20,000 U.S. citizens living abroad voted in the primary, which ran from Feb. 5 to Feb. 12. Obama won about 65 percent of the vote, according to the results released Thursday.

Combined dispatches