Hillary Clinton Has $22 Million in War Chest


ALBANY, N.Y. (July 15) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has more than $22 million for her re-election run against two little-known New York Republicans, raising the possibility of plenty of leftover cash for a potential White House bid.

   


The filing by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., was the latest show of strength by the potential front-runner for the 2008 Democratic presidential bid. Any money she doesn't use for re-election can be used in a White House race.

   

The former first lady said her campaign had raised almost $5.7 million over the last three months and had raised more than $43 million overall. The campaign has spent more than $21.7 million on her bid for a second Senate term.

Clinton had $19.7 million cash on hand at the end of March after raising more than $6 million during the first three months of the year.

Patti Solis Doyle, executive director of the Friends of Hillary campaign committee, said that over the second quarter of this year, the Clinton committee received 38,377 individual contributions with almost 35,000 of those donors giving $100 or less.

Former Yonkers mayor John Spencer and Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland, a Reagan-era Pentagon official, are vying for the Republican nomination to challenge Clinton. Both Republicans have had trouble raising money.

McFarland spokesman William O'Reilly said Friday that her campaign committee had just $282,199 on hand at the end of June, down from $430,000 in March. The latest account balance does not include a $100,000 loan she is making to her committee, O'Reilly said. Over the three month-period, the McFarland campaign has raised $224,000, he said.

The Spencer campaign had provided no information by mid-afternoon on Friday about its latest filing. It had $340,000 on hand in March.

The primary is Sept. 12.

The Clinton filing was the latest show of strength by the front-runner in the polls among the potential 2008 Democratic presidential contenders. Any money she doesn't use for her re-election race can be used in a presidential race.

By comparison, when she first ran for Senate in 2000, Clinton had just $6.9 million in hand at the end of June after raising about $19 million.

   


   
Other Senate candidates also released their most recent fundraising totals.

In Ohio, Republican Sen. Mike DeWine had $6.6 million compared to Democratic rival Rep. Sherrod Brown, who had $3.7 million. Brown raised $1.6 million in the three-month period, while DeWine took in $2.1 million.

DeWine launched his first negative ads of the campaign Friday, criticizing his rival's votes on intelligence spending in the 1990s and opposition to the expansion of government surveillance powers. The statewide ad buy was $470,000.

To emphasize DeWine's claim that Brown is "weakening America's security," the ad uses images of the burning World Trade Center towers and head shots of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

Brown's campaign complained that the ad was insensitive in its imagery and selective in its claims, ignoring Brown's support for $2.4 trillion in national security funding since 1993.

In Pennsylvania, Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, one of the most vulnerable incumbents facing re-election this November, said he has $9.5 million in cash for the remaining months of the campaign.

The lawmaker has raised $20.1 million, including $3.6 million in the three-month period ending June 30. Santorum's Democratic rival, state treasurer Bob Casey, has $5.2 million in cash after raising $2.8 million in the last quarter. He has raised $10.8 million for the race, according to his campaign.

The conservative Santorum has trailed Casey by double digits in polls in a state that went for Democrats Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. The No. 3 Republican in the Senate leadership, Santorum's fundraising total surpasses the record for a Senate candidate in the state - $19.8 million raised by Sen. Arlen Specter for his 2004 race.

Santorum was helped by fundraisers with first lady Laura Bush and former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

In Connecticut, Sen. Joe Lieberman, who faces a tough primary challenge, said he has nearly $4.3 million cash on hand for his campaign. He raised $1.3 million in the two-month period ending June 30 and has collected nearly $8.5 million.

His Democratic rival, wealthy businessman Ned Lamont, said he would release his numbers on Saturday.

The Connecticut primary is Aug. 8.

In Nebraska, incumbent Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson had $2.1 million cash on hand after raising $5.8 million. His Republican rival, Pete Ricketts, is a multimillionaire and recently stepped down from the board of directors of TD Ameritrade.

Ricketts had $975,000 cash on hand. He has put $4.75 million of his money into the campaign.

In Arizona, more than half of the $6.3 million Democrat Jim Pederson raised to challenge Republican Sen. Jon Kyl came from checks he wrote to himself, according to campaign reports.

The strip-mall developer contributed $1.7 million of the $2.3 million his campaign raised from April 1 to June 30. He has given a total of $3.7 million so far. Kyl reported about $2 million in contributions during the same period, raising a total of $11 million. He has about $7 million cash on hand.