Obama Profits From Clinton's Fundraising Glitch

The Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has been forced to revise downwards the $26m (£13m) she claimed to have raised in the first three months of this year, putting her on a par with, rather than ahead of, her rival Barack Obama.

Her fundraising total for that period has now shrunk by $400,000 (£200,000) because of bounced checks, donors whose credit cards were mistakenly charged twice and donations that exceeded the legal limit, according to the New York Times.

After the revisions, she and Mr Obama are now tied at $25.6m each.

The announcement of the first fund-raising figures at the end of March was an important campaign milestone. The Clinton camp had hoped to establish a huge gap in fundraising between her and Mr Obama, her closest challenger. She had a strong team behind her, many of whom had worked for Bill Clinton.

But Mr Obama did better than expected, announcing $25.7m.

At the time, the media was divided in interpreting the figures.

Most reported she had just pipped Mr Obama, while others said Mr Obama had nudged ahead.

One complicating factor is that Mr Obama does not take money from Washington lobbyists, while Ms Clinton does.

Mr Obama's figures for the first quarter have also been scaled back but not to the extent of Ms Clinton's, leaving him the clear winner.

He emerged from the second quarter well ahead of Ms Clinton. He is in a stronger position overall in terms of fundraising because he relies on lots of small donors, to whom he can return again and again, while Ms Clinton is more reliant on big donors, who face a ceiling on contributions.

In a separate development, Associated Press conducted 40 interviews with key Democratic figures and found concern that Ms Clinton was a polarizing figure whose presidential bid might put at risk Democrats standing for Congress in marginal constituencies.

Democratic candidates, consultants and party chairs from every region pointed to internal polls that give Ms Clinton strikingly high unfavorable ratings in places with key congressional and state races.

"I'm not sure it would be fatal in Indiana, but she would be a drag" on many candidates, said Democratic congressman Dave Crooks of Indiana.