WASHINGTON, April 3: De-mocrat Barack Obama piled up more than $40 million in fundraising in March alone, bolstering his advantage over rival Hillary Clinton before their next crucial White House nominating clashes.

Obama’s windfall, another staggering show of financial muscle following a record $55 million take in February, saw another 218,000 donors join what his campaign called his national “grassroots army.” ‘’Today we’re seeing the American people’s extraordinary desire to change Washington, as tens of thousands of new contributors joined the more than a million Americans who have already taken ownership of this campaign for change,” Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe said.

Clinton’s campaign shrugged off Obama’s figures, saying she could win in Pennsylvania on April 22 and beyond despite the deficit, and pressed home their argument that she was a better bet to take on Republican John McCain.

“We knew that he was going to out raise us, he has out raised us over the last several months,” Clinton’s communications chief Howard Wolfson said in a conference call. “We will have the resources that we need to compete and be successful in the upcoming primary states.

“I would remind everyone that he outspent us over two-to-one on television in Ohio and Texas ... we were able to win despite being outspent.” Strong fundraising is a vital component of a winning general election strategy, allowing a candidate to build strong state organisations, large get-out-the-vote efforts and launch television advertising blitzes.

Obama’s March take, the latest eye-popping figure in what is shaping up as the first billion dollar US election, takes his total fundraising so far to more than $230 million, according to official figures.

Until the end of February, Clinton, had raised $169 million, after recovering from a cash crunch which at one stage prompted her to lend her own campaign $5 million.

Her campaign said she would announce her own March totals in two weeks.

Obama aides said more than 442,000 donors had helped him raise over $40 million in March, with more than 218,000 people contributing to the campaign for the first time.—AFP