Campaign says Obama has raised $7M since Tuesday

NEW ORLEANS -- Democrat Barack Obama has raised $7.2 million and rival Hillary Rodham Clinton has collected $6.4 million since Super Tuesday, as he continued to resist a Clinton campaign clamoring for attention-getting debates.

The remarkable outpouring of contributions recorded since Tuesday's contests in 22 states comes on the heels of $32 million raised by Obama in January and the record-shattering $100 million each Obama and Clinton raised in 2007 in their neck-and-neck race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama has been riding a wave of fundraising from large donors and small Internet contributors. While not matching Obama's pace, Clinton also saw an online surge of donations from 35,000 new contributors since midnight Tuesday, Clinton campaign aides said. Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe told reporters in a conference call Thursday that these donations totaled $6.4 million.

Obama still considers himself the insurgent in the ongoing battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama campaign co-chairwoman Sen. Claire McCaskill said in a Thursday interview with the Southeast Missourian. Obama will not let himself be lulled into thinking he's gained dominance over Clinton, she said.

"This is someone who has taking on one of the most established organizations in Democratic politics," McCaskill said.

"When you start 30 points back and are barely breaking through, it is not time to get confident."

At some point, McCaskill said, the issue of who is the most electable Democrat will become a major part of the campaign. In Missouri, she noted, Obama dominated Clinton among independents who took a Democratic primary ballot.

According to exit polls, 22 percent of those voting in the Democratic primary considered themselves independents. Of those voters, 67 percent voted for Obama. "Independent voters decide in November who wins Missouri," McCaskill said.

In a sign of Clinton's increasing concern about Obama's growing strength, her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, sent a letter Thursday to the Obama campaign seeking five debates between the two candidates before March 4.

"I'm sure we can find a suitable place to meet on the campaign trail," Solis Doyle wrote. "There's too much at stake and the issues facing the country are too grave to deny voters the opportunity to see the candidates up close."

Staff writer Rudi Keller contributed to this report.