Presidential candidates are scrambling in a frantic four-week dash for cash ahead of “Super Tuesday” next month when hundreds of millions of dollars will be showered on an advertising air war in delegate-rich states.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which raised more than $115 million last year –and has spent more than three quarters of it – was issuing appeals yesterday for fresh donors to come forward because much of its existing list have “maxed out” by giving the legal limit of $2,300.

After spending as much as $25 million in Iowa alone, aides conceded that she had only about $25 million cash in hand. But fundraising has been boosted by her unexpected New Hampshire triumph on Tuesday night and she attracted more than $1 million in online donations in the 24 hours that followed. Terry McAuliffe, the campaign chairman, said the phone was “ringing off the hook”.

Barack Obama’s campaign said that he had raised $8 million in the five days since his Iowa triumph. He has far more individual contributors to tap and e-mails have been sent from his Chicago headquarters asking for help.

A race like a crackpot Dynasty

The contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton matches any fiction

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After losing in New Hampshire, Mr Obama flew to New York for a $2,300-a-plate dinner with Wall Street financiers. A similar event is planned in California next week.

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney, who staked millions of his own fortune on losing campaigns in Iowa and New Hampshire, held a nationwide fundraising conference call and generated $1.5 million on Wednesday.

The emphasis on money at this stage of the race reflects the looming date of February 5, when half the delegates for the nominating conventions will be chosen. California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois are among states that will vote then.

In place of the face-to-face campaigning that dominates early, smaller states, campaigns must increasingly rely heavily on TV advertising in some of the most expensive media markets in America.

The entry of Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, as an independent candidate could see election spending for 2008 move towards $5 billion – compared with £50 million for the British general election in 2005. Mr Bloomberg is said to have set aside $1 billion of his vast media fortune for a campaign. Yesterday it was reported that he has been quietly polling and conducting a highly sophisticated voter analysis in all 50 states as he decides whether to launch a White House bid.

Jan Baran, a Washington lawyer who specialises in campaign finance, said that the open contests for both party nominations – and intensity with which they are being fought – meant that spending would smash all previous records. He pointed out that senatorial campaigns in states such as New York can cost as much as $60 million. “There is no way that presidential candidates will be able to compete in all these advertising markets – they will have to pick and choose,” he said.

The Republican Rudy Giuliani is among those who have been conserving resources, pulling advertising out of the early states to concentrate on the Florida primary on January 29.

Others, such as Mike Huckabee and John McCain, have long since been struggling for cash. They are hoping that their successes in Iowa and New Hampshire will help them to attract more money so that they can compete on February 5.

The energy and enthusiasm around the candidacies of Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama has generated unprecedented sums of money in a cash race dominated traditionally by the Right.

The Republicans’ extended field of White House runners raised about $50 million less than their Democratic counterparts last year.

But there are signs that conservative donors may be going elsewhere until the party’s grassroots coalesce around a chosen candidate. The Republican National Committee raised $83 million last year, easily topping the Democratic National Committee’s total of $50.5 million.

Spending power

— In 2004 George Bush spent $280m (£140m) and John Kerry $250m before being nominated

— In 2008 spending by different candidates in the primary season is expected to reach $1bn

— Democrats raised $250m last year, most of which has already been spent. Republicans raised about $200m

— The presidential hopefuls of both parties have spent $120m on television advertising to date on the first round of the contest

— Mitt Romney has already spent $3.3m on TV adverts in South Carolina and $2.6m in Florida

Source: Times archives

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