Obama Takes Command in Cash Battle By Raising $7m in Two Days

Barack Obama yesterday declared a new front in the battle for the White House by announcing that he had raised more than $7m for his campaign in under 48 hours, a sign of strength on the eve of the next series of primary contests.

The announcement came as both Hillary Clinton and Obama's camp tried to demonstrate new momentum. Clinton's team tried to exert pressure on Obama, challenging him to weekly debates. Obama refused.

His fund raising ability deepened fears within the Clinton camp over primaries in Louisiana tomorrow and Virginia and Washington DC next week where Obama is perceived to have an advantage.

The Clinton camp sent out an email to its supporters, claiming to have raised $4m in the 24 hours immediately after Super Tuesday and upping its goal to raising $6m in 72 hours. But the upbeat emails were offset by Clinton's admission on Wednesday that she was forced to lend $5m to fund her campaign.

A leading fund raiser for the Clinton campaign admitted: "She is not going to catch up. He is out-raising her. If he has increased money to that extent it can really make a difference in terms of ground troops and the media."

Many of the Clinton campaign's identified supporters have already made the maximum donation of $2,300, forcing the campaign to extend its pool of contributors. The current cash crunch is a product of the campaign's early complacency, the Clinton fund raiser said "The campaign felt everything was so safely in the bag they stopped focusing on fund raising in December. Everyone started focusing on politics."

The Obama camp last week reported that it had raised $32m. The Clinton campaign raised more than $13m.

Obama's $7m haul was not the quickest of this season. Ron Paul, the congressman who is a distant contender in the Republican race, took in $6m in a single day last December.