Gordon Brown is looking to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for help in wiping out the lead that the Tories have established over Labour in the dash for political cash.

The Prime Minister has told The Times his party is examining the fundraising success of the two Democratic presidential candidates, both of whom regularly generate more than $1 million (£500,000) a day through small donations on the internet.

“We are watching closely how they’ve managed to extend their reach to new groups of supporters and donors,” he said during a trip to Washington last week. “The political systems are not the same and there are legal constraints about asking for money in unsolicited e-mails. But we’re certainly interested in what we can learn.” Mr Brown, a keen student of American politics, met both of the Democrat contenders and John McCain, the Republican nominee. According to latest figures, Mr Obama raised more than $40 million last month – the bulk of it online, via a donor base of more than one million individuals.

Mrs Clinton is thought to have raised around half this sum in March, but has also had considerable success in generating internet cash since almost running out of money earlier this year when many of her traditional high-value donors had given the legal maximum of $2,300 to the primary campaign.

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BACKGROUND

• A walking paradox who gave £600,000

• Brown is made to play the fool in stage farce

• Jack Dromey declares he is victim of concealment

Related Links

• Hard-up Labour fight to get funds

• Meet the donors who dine at Labour’s top table

• Hard task of raising party cash

In February, Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton raised more than $90 million between them - enough to pay for the entire cost of the 2005 British general election campaign.

E-mails sent by the candidates and their surrogates feature deeply personal appeals for money, often including artificial deadlines that lend an urgency to fundraising efforts.

Mr Obama has sometimes tried to entice donors by offering an “intimate dinner” for a handful of those who decide to help him. “We’ll pay for your trip and the meal - all you need to bring are your ideas about how to make this a better country for all Americans,” he wrote.

Others seek to create a sense of excitement and movement. Citing the achievement of reaching one million donors last month, Mr Obama gave warning that he was now facing a “battle on two separate fronts”, against Mrs Clinton and Mr McCain, adding: “Now is the time to step up and own a piece of this campaign.” Mrs Clinton’s e-mails make much of her underdog status. One said: “We are still being outspent 3-to1, and I need your help.” Labour sources confirmed yesterday that a senior official had made contact with Penny Pritzker, the chairwom-an of Mr Obama’s finance committee, while others are thought to have analysed the statutory and regulatory framework for internet fundraising in Britain.

The Data Protection Act and European rules prevent British political parties from buying e-mail lists of potentially sympathetic voters to solicit for money. This makes it hard for Labour to use the internet for tapping donors beyond its own list of members and supporters.

Although it is possible that the Government will seek to change these laws when Jack Straw publishes political funding reform proposals next month, Mr Brown said he hoped that more could be done to increase the number of small donors and to build a bigger data base of supporters. Currently, the party raises less than 10 per cent of its income online.

Cash flow

$40m Raised by Barack Obama in March

$20m Raised by Hillary Clinton in March

$1m Regularly raised each day by candidates from internet donors

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