Another first: billion-dollar presidential campaign

By Kevin Drawbaugh - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If Barack Obama looked like a campaign fund-raising champ before this week, just wait.

Now that he has captured the Democratic presidential nomination to face Republican John McCain in the November election, the Illinois senator will try to lay claim not only to many former Hillary Clinton donors, but also Democrats who have been undecided until now.

The result is likely to be another sharp spike in political donations, amid a political race already smashing fundraising records, campaign finance experts said.

"We're easily going to have the first billion-dollar presidential race," said Richard Parker, lecturer in public policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Obama had raised $265.4 million from all sources through the end of April, according to the latest analysis of Federal Election Commission records by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan, campaign finance watchdog.

New York Sen. Clinton's total take over the same period was $214.9 million, while Arizona Sen. McCain's was $96.7 million.

"A large number of Clinton donors will now send money to Obama, especially when Sen. Clinton endorses him," said Howard Reiter, head of the University of Connecticut's political science department.

In addition, Reiter said, Obama "is likely to receive a lot of donations from people waiting for the dust to settle."

He is the first black candidate to lead a major U.S. party into a presidential race.

Undecided Democrats and independents who were torn between Obama and Clinton will choose sides and reach for their checkbooks now that the options are clearer, experts said.

Obama "will now be running against someone who is very different from him. ... He and Sen. Clinton were very similar," said Michael Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute affiliated with George Washington University.

McCain probably will not be able to raise as much money as Obama, but the Republican won't drown. "He'll be competitive financially," said Malbin, also a professor of political science at the State University of New York at Albany.

OBAMA, CLINTON MERGER

Combining the Obama and Clinton donor networks will pose interesting political problems, Parker said.

Much of the New York Democrat's money came from big-ticket backers, like Wall Street. Obama has taken in plenty of money from investment banks and lawyers as well.