Democrats Win Super Tuesday “Money Primary”
Clinton and Obama Each Raised More Than Three Republican Contenders Combined
BY Devin Varsalona | February 08, 2008
The two contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination each raised more money in 19 Super Tuesday states than the three Republican hopefuls combined, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis.
Hillary Clinton topped fundraising in those states at just over $58 million, while fellow Democrat Barack Obama raised $47 million. They were followed by Republicans Mitt Romney ($27.5 million), John McCain ($16 million), and Mike Huckabee ($2.3 million).
The Center analyzed CQMoneyLine 2007 fundraising totals in those 19 states in which both parties held contests.
New York constituents contributed $22 million to Clinton over that period. This not only was the most raised in a candidate’s home state, but in fact was the most any candidate collected in a Super Tuesday state.
Clinton also boasts the second-highest fundraising total, with $16.8 million raised in California. Obama, with $14.2 million raised in that state, recorded the third-highest overall total.
Clinton raised more money than every other candidate, Democratic or Republican, in eight of the 19 states. Romney outpaced all others in six states, Obama in five.
But despite Clinton’s fundraising prowess, Obama defeated her in six states where she raised more money. In fact, the Illinois senator outraised Clinton in only seven Super Tuesday states, but captured more votes than her in 13.
The calculations do not account for donations from New Mexico, where the Democratic primary results are still under review.
Neither Huckabee nor McCain raised the most money in a single state. But among Republicans, the Center’s analysis reveals, McCain raised the most in five states and won in all of them. What’s more, he beat Romney in five other states where the former Massachusetts governor raised more money. In the end, the Arizona senator won about half that day’s Republican contests.
Voter loyalty, if nothing else, proved itself on Super Tuesday. Every candidate won his or her home state, and only Huckabee was outraised on his turf. In Arkansas, where Huckabee twice served as governor, that state’s former first lady won the money race: Clinton raised $983,417, and Huckabee raised $856,747.
Huckabee was last in fundraising everywhere but Arkansas (in Georgia alone, Romney outraised him by $790,000), but he nevertheless won in his home state and in four others: Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
By contrast, Romney won six states, five in which he raised more than his Republican rivals. All told, he raised the most among Republicans in nine states; in three of them, he also outraised the Democratic field. But losses in those three earned Romney an unwelcome distinction: the candidate to lose the most states in which he’d raised the largest sums.
Although Romney outspent his Republican rivals, he won only 175 delegates on Super Tuesday, compared with McCain’s 504 delegates and Huckabee’s 141 delegates. He suspended his campaign yesterday, saying that his continued candidacy would make it more difficult for the Republican Party to launch a national campaign to beat Clinton or Obama.