Democratic money race--Obama outraises Clinton in March

This is from the Los Angeles Times:

Battling to keep her presidential hopes alive, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton ended March with less than a fourth of the money that front-runner Sen. Barack Obama had in the bank for the coming contests, newly filed campaign finance statements showed.

Clinton had less than $10 million available for the remaining primary battles, including today's vote in Pennsylvania, compared with Obama's $42 million in primary funds.

At the same time, Clinton disclosed $10.3 million in debt, most of it owed to her cadre of political consultants, suggesting that if the campaign were to end now she would be financially underwater. Obama had $662,000 in unpaid bills.

The New York Democrat's debt could be "a glimpse of how it all comes to a close unless she has a shockingly good victory" in today's Pennsylvania primary, said political scientist Bruce Cain, head of the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies. "Campaigns end not because candidates make rational decisions about their prospects but rather because others who give resources make that decision for you," Cain said.

In March, Clinton raised sums that in any other campaign would be impressive -- $20 million. But Obama amassed $41 million last month.

I'll admit that I am impressed with Barack Obama's fund-raising juggernaut. It is such a powerful system of creating a huge internet database of small donors, who are willing to pitch in small dollar amounts to the Obama campaign without maximizing their political contributions. This is the next generation of campaign fund-raising for both political parties.

One other detail that surprises me is the $10 million debt that the Clinton campaign owes to her campaign consultants. Hillary Clinton raised $20 million for March, but half of that money will go into paying off her high-priced political consultants, leaving her to $10 million to run the campaign in the remaining seven states. Meanwhile, Barack Obama has $42 million, and almost no debt, available to pick and choose his fights against Clinton in the remaining state primaries and caucuses. This is not a position for the Clinton campaign to be in, since they will have to spend money in states defending against selective Obama attacks. It is really not a position of strength for the Clinton campaign.

It is a matter of time.