LOS ANGELES, CALIF.Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton meet Thursday at the Kodak Theater in Hollywoodthe same place where the Academy Awards are hostedto meet in their first two-way debate.
There are a lot of people in these Feb. 5 states who might be watching to a higher degree than they have in the past because they will be voting in five days, said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, who just wrapped up a conference call with reporters.
Highlights:
*Plouffe said the campaign raised $32 million just in the month of January for the primary and took in 170,000 new donors. That gives them the money to run advertising in almost all Feb. 5 states and be staffed up for the primary and caucus votes later in the month and start being on the air in the states with elections later on.
Presidential campaigns now need to file reports monthly, next due Feb. 20, but Plouffe was highlighting the results early because the numbers are important because obviously this contest could go on for some time in the primary and we think the strength of our financial position and the number of donors does speak to financial sustainability if this ends up going through March and April.
*The biggest day this month for money, Plouffe said was the day after Obama made a surprise loss in the New Hampshire primary.
*They are trying very, very hard to make the case to his supporters to join our campaign Edwards voters. In a lot of these states, these are change voters, more than anything else. And so we think the effect is in some states, it will be fairly neutral, in some states we think we might get the majority of his voters at the end of the day.
